Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
Buhari’s presidency says it’s planning handover to Tinubu, despite court cases
As litigations continue and seek to halt the assumption of office by the man announced by the Nigerian electoral commission INEC as the President-elect of Nigeria, the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari has stated that it will handover to Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima.
The Chairman of the Transition Committee who is also the Secretary to the federal government of Nigeria, Boss Mustapha, told journalists in Abuja on March 28, 2023 that “All litigation, whether resolved or not, will not in any way stop the process. The President is not spending a day extra in office. The security committee has the responsibility to ensure that nothing happens to truncate the transition process. Nigerians are very law-abiding people. Whoever has lost an election, there are provided avenues for those people to make whatever legal inquiry they want to make but the process would continue unabated. We would not create another constitutional crisis. On May 29, the hand-over will take place.”
He added that “The committee has been active and the refurbishment of offices for the President and Vice-President elect has been completed. The facility at the Defence House is ready. Security personnel of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force have also been deployed to the President and Vice-President elect.”
Mustapha said that “Protocol officers have also been assigned to both the President-elect and Vice-President-elect from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Intelligence Agency. The transition process is on course and all efforts are being made to ensure that it is smooth. On May 29, there would be a peaceful formal transfer of power to the new President.”
There are 2 major challenges to Tinubu’s disputed victory, from Nigeria’s former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of PDP and by Peter Obi of the Labour Party. “We are challenging the qualifications of the candidate that was declared the winner. We are also challenging the processes that led to his declaration as the winner, among others” — according to Labour Party spokesperson Yunusa Tanko.
“I will challenge this rascality for the future of the country,” Obi said on March 2 regarding election rigging allegations, qualifications and acts of intimidation of voters during the February 25 presidential polls. “This is not the end but the beginning of the journey for the birth of a new Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s President Buhari, a retired general, has also stated that his fellow party member, Tinubu, will take over from him on May 29, 2023 — which will mark eight years of his presidency.
Mr. President, Where’s our money and the state of our union?
