By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah, Thursday met behind closed doors with President Bola Tinubu to discuss matters of urgent importance including the release of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to stem the tide of insecurity in the South East at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking to State House Correspondents after emerging from the meeting, Mbah said he pleaded with the President for Kanu’s release as part of the national healing process which was contained in his inuagural speech in Abuja on May 29.
The governor who said Tinubu is favourably disposed to the quick resolution of the matter, expressed the hope that President Tinubu would give a favorable consideration to the request for the self-acclaimed IPOB leader to regain his freedom.
The Enugu governor disclosed that he also appealed for the assistance of the federal government to explore the abundant mineral resources in Enugu State for the benefit of the people.
Said he: “I came and frankly I brought to the President, the warm greetings and best wishes from the government and the people of Enugu state.
“But, above all, you may also know already that we made massive campaign promises to the people of Enugu. And we also have expressed humongous vision.
“We’ve taken a bold view of what the new group could achieve in the next four years, in terms of growing our economy from the current levels to $30 billion. And one of our core governance philosophy is to collaborate and to have partnership, and we have identified the federal government as our core partner.
“We have a number of dominant assets in Enugu which we believe partnering with the federal government, we’re able to transform them into productive assets.
“A lot of people do not know, but we have huge mineral resources in a new group. And these resources are sitting under our ground not being productive. So we believe with the partnership we’re trying to basically build with the federal government, we’re able to transform these assets into productive assets”.
Speaking further on his mission to the Villa, he said “Of course, you know that the growth level we have proposed is one that is going to be driven by private sector and private sector want the ease of doing business and one of the core indicators of the ease of doing business is security and infrastructure.
“So we also had that conversation with Mr. President. We have made a very strong announcement. We’ve banned sit at home on Mondays in Enugu. And obviously, what that means is that we will, of course, need to, you know, heighten our security, tackle the challenges that would flow from that, and, you know, essentially that’s what I have come to do”.
Asked if he discussed the Sit-At-home problem in the South East with the President and how to resolve it, Mbah answered in affirmative.
Said he: “And finally, we also of course, talked about the release of Nnamdi Kanu. You know, that the South East has made a collective demand to have Nnamdi Kanu released. And we basically identified with that and request, Mr. President, who in his inaugural address promised the people that he’s going to engender national healing and he’s going to serve with compassion.
“So we’ve basically informed him that this would serve as a pointer to his administration’s extension of hands of fellowship to Neigbour”.
