Buhari’ll handover peacefully to Tinubu on May 29, FG assures

By Omeiza Ajayi

Abuja—President Muhammadu Buhari’sadministration has expressed its commitment to ensuring a smooth transition process and peaceful hand over of power on May 29 to the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Chairman of the Presidential Transition Council, PTC, and Secretary to Government of the Federation SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, disclosed this at a briefing in Abuja.

“The transition process is on course and all efforts are being made to ensure that it is smooth and on May 29, there would be peaceful formal transfer of power to the new president,” he stated.

Mustapha said the council’s activities were not affected by the activities of partisans at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, noting that it had broken down into several subcommittees to ensure effective discharge of its mandate.

Recalling that the Presidential Transition Council, which was inaugurated on February 14, 2023, was made up of 24 members, including two persons from the president-elect’s team, Mustapha said as part of transition, four members of the president-elect’s team would be joining the Federal Government delegation to the Spring meeting of the World Bank.

Giving a brief on the activities of the council, the SGF said:  “Since the inauguration, the Council has met four times with the 5th holding today (yesterday).

“To ensure a smooth transition process and make the work more efficient, the PTC broke into three committees;

“The first of these is Inauguration Committee which is responsible for organizing the swearing–in and the inaugural parade; working out the details Programmes and other logistics necessary for the successful inauguration ceremonies.

“This committee is headed by the SGF with 15 members and is working through 13 sub-committees to facilitate effective planning and execution of the Inauguration activities. These sub-committees are; Media and Publicity; Church Service; Juma’at Service; Protocol and Invitations; Transport and Logistics; The Inauguration Lecture; Ceremonial Parade; Venues and Swearing in; Medical; Inauguration Dinner/Gala Night; Post Inauguration Luncheon; Accommodation and Children’s Day Celebration

“The president-elect has also been requested to nominate 13 persons that will work across the 13 sub-committees. The sub-committees have been working round the clock to ensure that all preparations are in place for a smooth inauguration ceremony.

“The second committee is the Transition Documents Committee which is headed by the Head of  Civil Service of the Federation. 

”The committee is responsible for compiling all policy, programmes and projects of this administration in the form of a compendium that focuses on this government’s nine priority areas. 

”It is also in charge of ensuring the preparation of sectoral briefs and handover notes of the current administration for the in-coming administration. The Committee is working assiduously to finalize the compilation of these documents.

“The third committee is the Facilities, Security and Intelligence Committee. The duty of this committee is to organise necessary facilities, including furnished office and personnel for the president-and vice-president-elect and their transition team; provision of security for the president and vice-president elect; provision of covert and overt security before, during and after the 2023 presidential inauguration including venues of events, hotels, airports, entry points, roads and general surveillance of FCT. This committee is headed by the National Security Adviser NSA.

“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 Service, DSS, and the Nigerian Police Force have also been deployed to the president and vice-president elect.

“Protocol officers have equally been assigned to both the president and vice president-elect from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Intelligence Agency, NIA.”