A mild drama played out at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday when a woman “breached protocol” to beg President Muhammadu Buhari for an audience over the ongoing killings in parts of the country.
Buhari had earlier met with members of the Christian Association of Nigeria from 19 northern states and Abuja inside the Council Chambers.
As customary, the President later posed for a group photograph with his guests at a raised platform at the forecourt of the Presidential Villa.
Immediately the photo session was over, however, the group’s women leader, Mrs. Leah Solomon, took everybody, including the President and his security details unawares, when she knelt before Buhari.
With tears in her eyes and hands raised up to express her helplessness, Solomon begged Buhari to grant audience to Christian women from the North who had been affected by the ongoing killings.
Buhari with CAN leaders
Specifically, she decried the killings of women and children in the affected areas.
Solomon’s action paid off as the President immediately directed State House Chief of Protocol to liaise with her and arrange the meeting.
She later told State House correspondents that she was in pain seeing innocent people being killed in parts of the country.
She said, “I was in deep pains when I see the killings of the innocent ones and also the mothers.
“I was in pains and I was asking if His Excellency will grant us an audience as Christian women in the northern states so that we can come and cry and pray also that the innocent children will be able live in the nation as the next generation.”