Nigeria's Buhari to visit heartland of Biafra secessionists
Buhari
ABUJA (Reuters) -  President Muhammadu Buhari  is to visit southeast Nigeria this week   his  spokesman said on Monday  his first trip since taking office to a region formerly known as Biafra.
 Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari  addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York  U.S.  September 19  2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Calls for secession have become increasingly loud in the last few months in parts of the southeast  where  the president  is deeply unpopular  prompting  Buhari  to say  he  will not allow Nigeria to be divided by separatist groups.
A million people died in a 1967-70 civil war over the short-lived Republic of Biafra.  Buhari   a 74-year-old former military ruler who took office in May 2015  fought in the war as a young soldier on the government side.
The spokesman  Garba Shehu  said  the president  would  as part of his trip  visit the campaign run by his All Progressive Congress party in the state of Anambra ahead of gubernatorial elections in the next few days.
â Mr President  will be visiting two southeast states of Ebonyi and Anambra â said Shehu. He said  Buhari  would leave the capital  Abuja  on Tuesday morning and return the following day.
âWe are yet to know our leaderâs whereabouts or that of his parents.  (Buhari ) is not the type of person any governor should be welcoming to their land â said an IPOB spokesman in a statement that urged the president to âstay awayâ.
The government has repeatedly rejected the accusation that  Buhari   a Muslim northerner  is opposed to the development of the mostly Christian southeast  where people are mainly from the Igbo ethnic group.
ABUJA (Reuters) -   [TGT] is to visit southeast Nigeria this week    [TGT]   spokesman said on Monday   [TGT]  first trip since taking office to a region formerly known as Biafra.
  [TGT] addresses the 72nd United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York  U.S.  September 19  2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Calls for secession have become increasingly loud in the last few months in parts of the southeast  where   [TGT] is deeply unpopular  prompting   [TGT] to say   [TGT]   will not allow Nigeria to be divided by separatist groups.
A million people died in a 1967-70 civil war over the short-lived Republic of Biafra.   [TGT] fought in the war as a young soldier on the government side.
The spokesman  Garba Shehu  said   [TGT] would  as part of his trip  visit the campaign run by his All Progressive Congress party in the state of Anambra ahead of gubernatorial elections in the next few days.
â Mr President  will be visiting two southeast states of Ebonyi and Anambra â said Shehu. He said   [TGT] would leave the capital  Abuja  on Tuesday morning and return the following day.
âWe are yet to know our leaderâs whereabouts or that of his parents.  ( [TGT]  ) is not the type of person any governor should be welcoming to their land â said an IPOB spokesman in a statement that urged the president to âstay awayâ.
The government has repeatedly rejected the accusation that  Buhari   a Muslim northerner  is opposed to the development of the mostly Christian southeast  where people are mainly from the Igbo ethnic group.