President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated President-elect Bola Tinubu on achieving his lifelong ambition of leading the country, as well as being the best presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
In his farewell nationwide broadcast on Sunday morning, President Buhari said Tinubu was driven by a burning desire to elevate Nigeria to the ranks of the world’s leading nations.
Buhari described Tinubu as his brother, friend, and coworker in politics for the past decade, and congratulated him on becoming his successor.
The President stated that the former Lagos State Governor had worked hard for this day and that God had rewarded his efforts.
He said:
You (Tinubu) have indeed worked for this day and God has crowned your efforts. I have no doubt that your passion for excellence, reliance on competence, fairness in relationships, commitment to equity, loyalty to the country and desire for Nigeria to be globally relevant would come through for you, under God’s guidance, as you lead our country to levels higher that I am leaving.
I have no doubt that your passion for excellence, reliance on competence, fairness in relationships, commitment to equity, loyalty to the country and desire for Nigeria to be globally relevant would come through for you, under God’s guidance, as you lead our country to levels higher that I am leaving.
You are the best candidate among all the contestants and Nigerians have chosen well.
Speaking further, the President said the last eight years had been an exciting experience in his desire and commitment to see a Nigeria in which public goods and services were available, and accessible within a united, peaceful, and secure nation.
He added:
Fellow Nigerians, on the strength of your overwhelming support for me and my political party, I started this journey with a great deal of promise and expectation from you. I never intended to be just politically correct but to do the correct things that will make a meaningful impact on the lives of the common Nigerian.
This high expectation was not misplaced because, like the ordinary Nigerian, I had grown tired of watching the country progressively moving away from the path of correctness.