— Says Jonathan could have made things difficult
— Receives handover notes from President
By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja
General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) will today take the oath of office and allegiance as the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Buhari won the March 28 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by defeating a sitting president and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Yesterday, Buhari toured the Presidential Villa and received handover notes and copy of the report of the recently concluded National Conference from Jonathan, ahead of today’s swearing-in ceremony.
Buhari had commended Jonathan for changing the course of history by making that historic phone call, which saved Nigeria from a needless orgy of violence.
He stressed that Jonathan was capable of using the power of incumbency to make things difficult on the outcome of the presidential election at the expense of the lives of poor Nigerians, but “he chose to tow the path of honour”.
Responding after receiving the handover notes, Buhari said he would not make much comment until he had studied the documents.
He said: “Until I read and digest these notes from the President, 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, 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 understand a lot of relief in their voices that Nigeria has made it after all and this is largely owed to a situation.
“If you (Jonathan) had attempted to make things difficult that would have been at the expense of lives of poor Nigerians, but you chose the path of honour and may God help all of us. Thank you very much, your Excellency.”
On his part, Jonathan said the documents presented to Buhari would give him a mission statement of the commitment of the outgoing government for the past five years and the directions it was going to.
He said: “It is my pleasure, on behalf of the vice-president, members of the 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.
“There is another document that I will hand over to you; to me this is more important than the handover notes. The hand over notes 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 other 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 walks of life, they were not influenced by government in any way.
“And most of the recommendations here, if it is followed, most of the gray areas even in our politics will be straightened. Most of the areas where people complain bitterly – corruption, everything – this document deals with them. Some people here were members of that great body of about 500 egg heads.
“We were unable to implement because of the shortness of time. We have sent a copy to the National Assembly but is a document that we are very hopeful that your government will look into it and give it the attention it requires.
“It is also my pleasure, on behalf of the vice president, members of the 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”.
Also last night, Jonathan held a pre-inaugural dinner party for Buhari, members of the outgoing government and other dignitaries.
