Deji Elumoye in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that Nigerians decided to vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last Saturday’s elections due to high level of development being carried out by the present administration.
Speaking on Wednesday while receiving in audience the President-elect, Asiwaju Tinubu and othe leaders of the ruling party at his Daura, Katsina state country home, the President, according to a release issued by presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, said he was pleased that the people chose the APC and its candidates, affirming through this, their desire that the momentum of development under the administration continues.
The President commended the Party supporters and the Presidential Campaign Council for the “historic win,” which he said would never have been possible without discipline, commitment and hard work.
There were jubilant scenes at the home of President Buhari, Wednesday evening, when the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice President-elect Senator Kashim Shettima made a triumphal entry into the private residence in Daura, with each of them brandishing their certificates of return.
The certificates are symptomatic of their victory in the presidential election as issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Apparently overcome with a lot of emotions, seeing the “phenomenal election result,” President Buhari kept repeating, “My Good Lord, My Good Lord,” “Fantastic.”
“We are very lucky,” the President uttered as he warmly clasped the hand of the President-elect, “there were no problems. No blood shed, no accidents. We have God Almighty to thank for this.”
Speaking with newsmen after the visit, Tinubu said the puropose of his visit to the President was to appreciate him as well as to present him with the Certificate of Return from INEC.
His words: “I came to present the certificate of return to him (Buhari) as the party leader and commend his efforts in supporting democracy in Africa, this is the largest democracy in Africa and he couldn’t have done any better, we are lucky there is no incident, there is no accident, and no matter how provocative a defeat is, we still have to tolerate it because we are democrats and we are trying to build a nation.
On the take away from his visit to President Buhari in Daura, the President-elect said “well the calmness and commitment and the fact that after voting he taught us again dedication to our party by displaying his ballot papers, loyalty to the party and being ready to create a future for all of us and no matter how tempting the problem of democracy is, he is following the process, building a successor and ready to hand over peacefully, you know in Africa its a big deal you know.
He also disclosed that he had received many congratulatory messages from world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to him: “Oh very many of that, infact as far as Europe, the stock market reacted positively well, there was a goodwill message from Macron the President of France”.
The president-elect and his deputy were accompanied to Daura by the Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the founding chairman, Chief Bisi Akande as well as the Governors of Katsina, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Lagos and Jigawa.
Other were the Governors of Kebbi, Niger, Plateau, Ogun and the former Governors of Borno, Ali Modu Sheriff and that of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari.
There were also Ministers of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare and Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Also on the entourage were Alhaji Kashim Imam, Wale Tinubu, the Deputy Governor of Katsina State, Mannir Yakubu and the Speaker of the Parliament of Kaduna state Yusuf Ibrahim Zailani.
