President Muhammadu Buhari has come under fire for his 2017 New Year Message, which a frontline rights activist described as anti-Igbo. The speech, delivered to Nigerians on New Year eve, did not mask Buhari’s hatred for Ndi Igbo, according to Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko,

National Co-ordinator of the Human Rights Writers' Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) and former Commissioner with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Onwubiko, in a post on his Facebook wall, described the speech as being an “essentially a dry one and a rehash of his past speeches that lack bite and inspiration.”

Continuing, he said: “One issue resonated and that is his unbridled but naked hatred for the Igbo youth agitating for self determination in line with international laws. Buhari clearly placated the Niger Delta militants because they are successfully blowing up crude oil facilities thereby crippling the only viable source of revenue for the politicians and their families. Buhari also placated the SHIITES Islamic movement and in a subtle manner acknowledged that soldiers abused their human rights but he never mentioned the slaughter by soldiers of over 150 Igbo youth agitating for BIAFRA who were needlessly massacred in May of 2016 by soldiers in an entirely unprovoked attack against unarmed protesters. Buhari didn't make a mention of the marauding Fulani gangsters tearing through communities with sophisticated military weapons, destroying and taking over Christian communities. If you ask me I will say that the New Year speech is like an old wine in an old wine skin...so dry and condescending. Sad!”

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