Nigeria’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zubairu Dada met with the 88-year-old President Biya on 21 May 2021 in Yaoundé.

The President Buhari emissary came along with a sealed envelope from Abuja and held a one-hour meeting with the ageing Cameroonian head of state.

Ambassador Zubairu Dada told Cameroon state radio and television that “Apart from the fact that we have these artificial boundaries between us, we are actually the same people. Whatever affects Nigeria affects Cameroon by extension and vice versa.”

The Nigerian diplomat did not actually disclose the purpose of his trip to Yaoundé. But Cameroon Concord News gathered that the Head of State of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, current chairman of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, has invited member countries to an extraordinary summit scheduled for 25 May 2021 in Abuja.

In addition to the Heads of State and Government of Cameroon, Nigeria, CAR, Niger and Chad, the high-level meeting will exceptionally be extended to sub-regional organisations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), as well as friendly countries, notably France, Great Britain and the United States

The main item on the agenda of this upcoming meeting in the Nigerian capital is the consequences of the death of Chad’s Head of State, Marshal Idriss Deby Itno, on 20 April 2021, on security in the countries of the Lake Chad basin and even in the Sahel.

By Rita Akana