Council of State: Buhari receives handover document, tours Villa May 28

The decision was taken at Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday during the valedictory session the council held in Jonathan’s honour.
Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu, who briefed State House journalists said it was resolved that Buhari and the vice president-elect, Professor Yemi Osibanjo, tour the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on May 28 before a dinner would on  same day.
Our correspondent reports that after the two-hour meeting, Jonathan handed over an envelope to Buhari shortly after a group photograph of the attendees.
Aliyu said the council also decided that all the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) would officially submit their handover notes on May 28 before the May 29 inauguration programme.
He said the council expected that the handover document would contain the details of all the funds collected and how they were spent as well as all government’s assets and the liabilities.
“Another issue (discussed) is the transition and inauguration committees. The sitting and the incoming governments both selected their teams with their terms of reference. But they’ve almost become one because of the interface so that all details that are required in governance, nothing will become new to the incoming government,” Aliyu said.
He disclosed that invitations to the May 29 transition programme had been sent out to all the presidents of African countries including presidents and prime ministers of the G8-countries as well as heads of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the ECOWAS and the African Union.
Aliyu explained that the meeting was a valedictory session for Jonathan, saying a-thank-and-gratitude motion was moved by former Head of State retired General Yakubu Gowon “reiterating all the beautiful things that have happened in the Council of State and thanking Mr. President and all the members of the council for their contributions in the development and unity of Nigeria.”
He said the council particularly lauded Jonathan and Buhari’s responses to the outcome of the 2015 presidential election noting that it set the tone for the peaceful and unifying forces that came into Nigeria.
Aliyu said: “Technically, May 29 is for the man taking over. For handing over documents, you don’t wait till that 29th because after the inauguration, the transition committee may continue. If you recall, when President Jonathan came on board, he inaugurated the General Danjuma’s committee to look at all the document that were handed over to them and make recommendations. So, it’s a continuous thing.”
Responding to a question on the exchange of pleasantries by the attendees during the meeting despite their different political affiliation, Aliyu said: “One of the former heads of states moved for all these to be recorded so that we make it as part of the tradition. Politics is not war. Yes, there is a price, but the moment there is a decision and someone gets the price, everyone should come back and wait for another chance.”
Also speaking, Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam said the National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki gave a comprehensive brief on the country’s security situation, especially on the Boko Haram insurgency.
He quoted Dasuki as noting that when the insurgency emerged, it was a new phenomenon and security agencies could not deal with it then, but that with the collaboration of neighbouring nations, it had become easier to deal with it.
Suswam said the council believed that the incoming administration would have less problems dealing with terrorism as the armed forces were now better equipped and trained to tackle it.
He added that the council also discussed the incessant herders/farmers clashes.
“The issue of the clashes between the herdsmen and the farmers was also addressed and the way forward. Actually, the report that was presented by the Economic Council under my chairmanship as related to the issues of grazing and what the federal government needs to do in order to address that will be presented to the incoming president so that he will act on it since there is no time for this administration to do that,” he said.
Suswam said: “But on the whole, the summary of what the NSA presented to council was to say that Nigeria is now better prepared than it was three years back in fighting any form of insurgency because outside the immediate surrounding countries, the international community have also keyed into giving serious assistance.”
On the transition programme, Suswam said: “The council decided that henceforth, there has to be a template in which transition will follow, we’ve never had it. This is the first time one is going to be developed so that there is no speculation as to what needs to be done as everything will be in a template.”
On Chadian President Idriss Deby’s allegation that lack of collaboration caused the insurgency to linger, Suswam said: “In the NSA briefing, he didn’t say it took long because of lack of collaboration, but moving forward that collaboration which has resulted in the successes recorded, otherwise it wouldn’t have been possible. You know that the Sambisa Forest goes down to Mali. If there were no collaboration, the successes wouldn’t have been recorded.  The Chad president, I believe, was talking about what was happening in the past. There was no intelligence sharing between the neighbouring countries, but now that is the focal point.”