You could have made things difficult – Buhari praises Jonathan

Nigeria’s in-coming president, Muhammadu Buhari yesterday declared that  out-going President, Goodluck Jonathan could have made things difficult by refusing to accept the outcome of the election, but rather chose the path of honour.

Buhari said Jonathan’s decision to make the telephone call to him accepting defeat, changed the course of Nigeria’s history and earned him a place of honour in the hearts of his coutrymen.

Speaking shortly after receiving the handover notes from Jonathan at  the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Buhari who takes over the reins of government today (Friday) said “ 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.”

Buhari added: “All the leaders that spoke to me and congratulated us for arriving at the point we arrived, mentioned this and I could sense relief in their voices that Nigeria has made it after all  and this is largely owed to a situation.

“If you had wanted to make things difficult, you could have made things difficult and 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”.

He however said he could not comment on the handover notes handed him by outgoing President Jonathan until he reads and digests them.

Jonathan who had earlier read a speech reeling out some of the achievements of his administration, handed over an executive summary of the hand over notes to Buhari, alongside the confab report.

Handing over the second document, Jonathan observed that while the handover notes would help the incoming government  navigate, the confab report would help them smoothen grey areas in the polity.

“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.

“So, it is my pleasure on behalf of the Vice President, members of the executive council and other senior functionaries to formally hand over these hand over notes to General Muhammadu Buhari, the President-elect who will assume office tomorrow. Congratulations.

The president said he was more interested in the implementation of the conference recommendations to resolve many national issues.

“There is another document that I will hand over to you.

“To me, this document is more important than the handover note.

“I have said it all, that the hand over notes are the activities of an administration. it shows how we started and how we were going. In some of the cases, you may follow; and in some, you may take another angle.

“But this is a document that was compiled by Nigerians, the main report of the National Conference 2014.

“We gathered almost 500 Nigerians from all aspects of life. They were not influenced by government in any way.

“And most of the recommendations here, if followed, most of our grey areas in our politics would be smoothened out. Most of the areas that people complain about bitterly, corruption, everything, this document took care of.

“Some people here were members of that body of about 500 eggheads. We were unable to because of the shortness of time to implement, but we were able to send it the National Assembly.

‘’But it is a document that we are hopeful that your government will look into it and give it the attention it requires.’’

The president also highlighted the achievements of his administration in infrasturucture development, electoral reforms and economy, human capital development and fighting corruption.

He said the period was full of challenges but that in spite of the odds and the fight against insurgency, Nigeria had moved on.

Jonathan said the efforts made to generate employment for the youth, save national funds through financial systems reforms, especially the weeding out of 60,450 ghost workers from 359 of the 425 agencies of government, saved the nation about N185.4 billion.

“Our administration has done its best to intervene robustly and impact positively on key aspects of our national lives.

“There is no doubt that challenges still abound but they are surmountable and overwhelming national transformation remains realisable with continuity, commitment and consistency.

“Nigeria is blessed with citizens that will always remain faithful, firmly committed to national unity, accelerated political, social and economic development.

“As we hand over the reins of government, I believe that our nation is secure, our democracy is stable and the future is bright.

“Let us all work together and with greater resolve, continue to build a stronger and more positive nation.’’

Elizabeth Archibong