Buhari receives handover notes from Jonathan

Buhari said this inside the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa Abuja yesterday after receiving the handover document from President Jonathan.
The president-elect stressed that with that telephone call; Jonathan had changed the course of Nigeria’s political history and had earned himself a place in the country’s history.
Buhari also stated that for stabilising the multi-party democratic system in the country, the president had also earned the respect of Nigerians and world leaders.
According to him, if the president had attempted to make things difficult, he (Jonathan) could have done so at the expense of lives of poor Nigerians.
The president-elect, therefore, acknowledged that rather than make things difficult, Jonathan chose the part of honour.
“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 system, 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 had attempted 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 part of honour, and may God help all of us. Thank you very much your Excellency,” Buhari told Jonathan.
On the handover notes presented to him, Buhari said he would not make any “strong contributions” on the document until he studies and digests it.
“I will read and digest these notes from the president. I don’t think I will be in a position to make any strong contribution,” he said.
Before presenting the handover notes to his successor, Jonathan said the document would give Buhari a mission statement of the commitment of the outgoing government for the past five years and enable him (Buhari) to “navigate” through the directions the nation was going.
“So, it’s my pleasure on behalf of the vice president, members of the executive council and other senior government functionaries to formally hand over these hand over notes to General Muhammadu Buhari, the president-elect, who will assume office tomorrow (today). Congratulations,” he said.
The president also presented the report of the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference to Buhari, asserting that the document was more important than the handover notes.
He maintained that if the recommendations of the Conference were implemented, most of the grey areas in Nigeria’s politics, especially the issue of corruption, would be sorted out.
“The handover notes is the activities of an administration, it shows where we started, where we are going. In some of the cases you will follow, in other cases, you may take other angle,” he said.
“There is another document that I will hand over to you. To me, this is more important than the handover notes. But this is a document that was compiled by Nigerians; the report of the National conference 2014,” he said.
The president, however, regretted that his government was unable to implement the recommendations of the conference report due “to the shortness of time”.
The president also said it remained his “sincere” hope and prayer that the over 200 Chibok schoolgirls abducted over a year ago would soon be “reunited with us.”
Earlier, Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, who headed Jonathan’s transition committee said the assignment was handled meticulously as a guide to Buhari’s administration, adding that such could be a political culture in Nigeria’s polity.
Similarly, Ahmed Joda, who chaired Buhari’s transition committee, had also stated that his members were still studying the handover document and would continue to work on it.
Our correspondent reports that before Jonathan conducted Buhari round the facilities at the State House earlier yesterday morning, he had held a closed-door meeting with Buhari, at the former’s office.
Buhari’s tour began from the new Banquet Hall to the adjourning offices.