ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has said President Goodluck Jonathan changed Nigeria’s course of political history with that singular call to him to concede defeat, saying if the President had attempted to make things difficult it would have been at the expense of innocent lives.
In the same vein, President Jonathan has urged Buhari to implement what he described as the most important document in that the handover notes, the report of the National Conference, saying the recommendations if followed, most of the grey areas in Nigeria’s governance process like politics and corruption, among others would be resolved
Both leaders spoke at the ceremony to hand over official documents to Buhari held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari, who said he would read and digest the handover notes before making his position known, said Jonathan not only earned the respect of Nigerians but world leaders, who heaved a sigh of relief that Nigeria made it without crisis after the 2015 general elections.
He said that Jonathan even when he had the powers to do otherwise, towed the line of honour and saved innocents lives by that singular call to concede defeat.
Buhari said, “Until I read and digest this notes from President Goodluck Jo
nathan, I don’t think I will be in a position to make any strong contribution.
“But what I will say is since the telephone call you made you have changed the course of Nigeria’s political history. For that you have earned yourself a place in our history for stabilising this system of multi-party democracy system and you have earned the respect of not only Nigerians but world leaders.
“All the leaders that spoke to me and congratulated us for arriving at the point we arrived, mentioned this and I could sense a lot of relief in their voices that Nigeria has made it after all and this is largely owed to this situation (telephone call).
“If you had attempted to make things difficult it would have been at the expense of lives of poor Nigerians, but you chose the part of honour and may God help all of us. Thank you very much Your Excellency”.
Jonathan, who had earlier read a 15-page speech, said, the handover document was a mission statement of the outgoing government for the past five years and that it would help the Buhari administration to properly navigate.
He said, “This will give you a mission statement of the commitment of this government for the past five years and the directions we are going that will help you to navigate.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560”]
“So it is my pleasure on behalf of the Vice President, members of the Federal Executive Council and other senior functionaries to formally hand over these handover notes to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the President elect who will assume office tomorrow. Congratulations”.
Presenting the report of the 2014 National Conference, Jonathan said it was the contribution of Nigerians without government interference, saying it would help put the nation on the right path if all the contending issues were addressed.
He said, “There is another document that I will hand over to you, to me this is more important than the handover notes. The handover note is the activities of an administration, it shows where we started, where we are going, in some of the cases you’ll follow, in other cases you may take another angle.
“But this is a document that was compiled by Nigerians, the report of the National conference 2014. We gathered almost 500 Nigerians from all works of life, they were not influenced by government in any way. And most of the recommendations here, if followed most of the gray areas even in our politics will be smoothened out. Most of the areas where people complain bitterly like corruption, everything in this document deals with them. Some people here were members of that great body of about 500 eggheads.
“We were unable to implement because of the shortness of time, we have sent a copy to the National Assembly but it is a document that we are very hopeful that your government will look into it and give it the attention it requires.
“It also my pleasure on behalf of the Vice President, members of the Federal Executive Council and other senior functionaries and especially the conference members that developed this report, the baby of the nation, to hand over this also to you”.
Jonathan had said while over 500 women and children have been rescued from Boko Haram activities, he was hopeful that Chibok girls would soon be rescued.
The handover ceremony was preceded by the familiarisation tour of the Villa.
Buhari was in the Presidential Villa at 11 o’clock prompt for the tour round the highest place in the land.
Jonathan had promised him a tour of the Villa so as to get him familiarised with his (Buhari’s) new abode before taking over.
The tour began at the new Banquet Hall, one of the structures the Jonathan administration is bequeathing to the incoming administration. It however, didn’t take much time.
The two leaders then walked the long stretch from the new Banquet Hall to the offices upstairs which house the President’s office, conference rooms as well as some personal aides offices.
In the same vein Vice President Namadi Sambo took the incoming Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo round the vice presidential office also to show him what is where.
“After the tour every one converged on the Council Chambers where a battery of camera men and newsmen had lined up for a proper briefing.
The handing over ceremony began with Secretary to the Government Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, speaking on the mandate of the transition committee and what they have done as part of the handover programme. He reported that the outgoing and the incoming transition committees were on the same page. He said the purpose was to hand over the notes to the incoming administration.
His remarks were followed by that of Alhaji Ahmed Joda, chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) transition committee, who confirmed the receipt of the handover notes.
He said that they were still studying the report and would continue to work on them and that it would only be handed over to Buhari after due study.
Vice President Sambo said that the assignment was carried out meticulously as a guide to the incoming administration, adding that it could become a political culture in the Nigerian polity.
