Buhari due to visit pro-Biafra heartland

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is due to visit the stronghold of pro-Biafran separatists in the south-east for the first time since he took office in 2015, amid growing agitation for secession in the region.

The banned separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) has threatened to disrupt the visit. The president is deeply unpopular in the region.

Security has been beefed up across Ebonyi and Anambra states ahead of his trip.

During the visit, Mr Buhari will attend the ruling party’s campaign rally for a governorship election in Anambra state.

Tension has been high in recent months following renewed calls for a breakaway state of Biafra in the region inhabited mainly by the Igbo ethnic group.

Ipob leader Nnamdi Kanu has not been seen in public since the military raided his home in September. His allies and supporters say he is in military custody, but the army denies that it arrested him.