By Jacob Kubeka (ABUJA) –
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain today in London, appraised the war against different forms of terrorism in Nigeria, and agreed that the judicial process be allowed to run its course.
Holding bilateral talks at the sidelines of the Global Education Summit in London, the two leaders said it was important that the judicial process runs without interference, no matter who was involved.
The two leaders spoke in apparent reference to the arrest and on-going trial of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra 9IPOB), Nnamdi Kano and the chief protagonist of the Yoruba Nation agitation, Sunday Ighoho in Nigeria and Benin Republic, respectively.
The statement by Buhari and Johnson also came barely 24 hours after a Kaduna State High Court yesterday freed the embattled leader of the proscribed Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife, who had been in detention since December 2015 following a bloody clash between his followers and soldiers in Zaria.
In a ruling that lasted over eight hours, the presiding judge, Justice Gideon Kurada upheld the no-case submission filed by Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky and his wife in an alleged culpable homicide, unlawful assembly and disruption of public peace levelled against them by the Kaduna state government.
President Buhari, according to his Special Adviser (Media and Publicity), Femi Adesina, briefed the Prime Minister on Nigeria’s power needs and efforts being made, as well as initiatives geared at achieving food security.
He also reviewed the security situation in the different regions of the country, while PM Johnson pledged Britain’s preparedness to lend a helping hand.
“We are available to help,” Boris Johnson said.
The two leaders equally discussed how to increase trade between the two countries, develop solar and wind power, leadership of the Commonwealth going forward and other matters of mutual interest.