Another walker, Malam Abubakar Umar, 43, who started trekking from Yola, the Adamawa State capital, last Saturday, to celebrate the victory of President-elect Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja arrived Gombe yesterday, where he spent the night.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Umar said he was carrying more than 70 letters of requests from people of the Northeast to Gen. Buhari, which the people gave him on his way.
He told NAN that most of the requests he received from the people urged the President-elect to address insecurity and rebuild the region.
Umar, popularly known as African Duduwalle, said some women also asked him to appeal to Gen. Buhari not to scrap the Office of the First Lady.
According to him, the women said the office provides them the opportunity to benefit from empowerment, appointments and other benefits.
“My bag is full of letters and requests from people who said I should give Gen. Buhari.
“Women also told me that I should appeal to the President-elect not to scrap the Office of the First Lady, which affords women the opportunity to air their views as well as benefit from the government.
“Some people also told me to appeal to the President-elect to do something about Boko Haram. They even said they would bring photographs of the insurgency to take them to the General,” he said.
The man, who said he had been an ardent supporter of Gen. Buhari since 2003, when he was a youth leader on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), was happy to hear that Gen. Buhari had won.
Umar explained that his walk to Abuja was also to identify with notable Adamawa indigenes, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Aliyu Mustapha and wife of the President-elect, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, among others.
The walker said he had planned to ride a bicycle to Abuja but was encouraged by the trekking of Mr Suleiman Hashimu, who trekked from Lagos to Abuja to celebrate the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate’s victory in the March 28 election.
On his experience on walking a long distance before now, he recalled an instance where he trekked from Adamawa to Cameroun.
NAN reports that officials of Airtel Nigeria received the man and provided him with a smart phone to enhance his communication as he proceeded to his destination in Abuja.
Umar thanked Nigerians from for giving him water, food and other forms of assistance on his way.
Also, the Northeast Zonal Business Manager of Airtel Nigeria, Malam Muhammad Ibrahim, said the company was proud to identify with the man for being the company’s customer.
Ibrahim said as a social responsibility of the company to the customer, who was embarking of such heroic action, the company believed it should support him with means of communication, hence the gift of a smart phone.