President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah (lesser pilgrimage) on the invitation of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz.
The Presidency in a statement on Wednesday revealed that President Buhari has accepted the invitation of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, the ruler of Saudi Arabia & Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to perform the Umrah (lesser pilgrimage) in the Kingdom.
To this effect, the President, accompanied by close personal aides, will embark on the journey on Thursday, 16th May.
He is expected back in the country on Tuesday, 21st May.
Umrah is an optional but recommended pilgrimage to Makkah that can be made at any time of the year.
President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday in Abuja said he is conscious of the weight of responsibility on his shoulders and promised not to disappoint Nigerians in providing effective and result-oriented leadership that safeguards and ensures a better life for all citizens.
He spoke after attending the daily Tafsir (Quranic interpretations) marking the month of Ramadhan fast at the State House Mosque.
President Buhari said the reality of his office weighs heavily on his mind at all times, and he will keep working to deliver an improved life to Nigerians.
The President said he knows what to do and will not fail Nigerians.
President Buhari expressed gratitude to all Nigerians for the opportunity to serve a second term in office. He said their expectations for giving him the mandate will be met.
“The expectations of Nigerians will be met. I will not let them down. I will continue to do my best,” he said.
The President reiterated his earlier message on the occasion of Ramadhan to Nigerians that discipline should be the watchword of every citizen. He advised citizens to use the fasting period to reflect and be more constructive in purpose by promoting harmony.
He said the fasting period also provides a good opportunity for charity.
In his remarks, Chief Imam of the Mosque, Sheik Abdulwaheed Sulaiman gave thanks to Almighty Allah for allowing the general election to take place peacefully throughout the country. He called for repentance and prayers to avert the current security challenges confronting the nation.
He said the security incidents are a test from God
A man, Abdullahi Yada’u, has divorced his wife after failing to convince her not to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in next month’s presidential election.
Mr Yada’u, a resident of Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau State, told BBC Hausa Service on Thursday that he divorced his wife, Hafsat Suleiman, because she insisted on voting for Mr Buhari.
The president is seeking re-election on the platform of his party, APC.
Mr Yada’u stated that previously, both of them supported Mr Buhari in the 2015 elections. But this time, he felt disappointed with the administration and decided not to vote for him again, he said.
“I told her that she must not vote for him but she insisted which led to a quarrel which attracted the attention of our neighbours, I slapped her and told her to choose between voting for Buhari and staying with me. She ran away.
“Later her parents called me and I narrated to them what transpired between us. But still my wife insisted on voting for Mr Buhari, that’s how I divorced her in the presence of her parents.”
Ibrahim Suleiman, the wife’s elder brother, said they felt very sad over what transpired between the couple. We decided to deal with him but our father stopped us from joining issues with him, he told the BBC.
“He really disgraced us. They have been having issues even in the previous election. She is the one that convinced him to vote for Buhari, now he insisted on voting for Mr Atiku Abubakar. We decided that we will not allow her to go back to him again,” he said.
Mr Abubakar is the main challenger to Mr Buhari in next month’s election.
Buhari described the endorsement of his major opponent in the 2019 presidential poll as inconsequential and lacking in substance, saying that the moment the so-called resolution was announced, he got calls from well-meaning leaders from the region asking him to disregard it, as it was without any substance
COLOSSUS GISTS recalls that Igbo leaders had, at a summit in Enugu State on Wednesday, reportedly endorsed Atiku’s candidacy for the 2019 presidential poll.
President Buhari said that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), got it right from the very beginning – that the major problems facing the country were mainly on security, corruption and the economy.
A statement by his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, quoted the president as saying:
“We have done so much. Given the chance, we will do more. Given every chance, we will tell Nigerians where we were in 2015 and what we have achieved up to now. We will not get tired of speaking about the golden opportunity Nigeria lost during 16 years of the PDP. We earned money, which we didn’t use.
“The state of infrastructure we inherited was terrible – no roads, the railway was killed and power (also was killed). They lacked conscience because anybody with a conscience will not do what they did. We will report them to Nigerians. Let anybody lead this country but not the PDP. They were so reckless with the resources of the country.
“If you ruin the economy, send your children abroad to get an education, won’t they come back? I said it 30 years ago that this is the only country we have. We must stay here and salvage it together.”
The leader of the delegation, Engineer Emeka Ekwuosa and the national chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, informed President Buhari that the Igbos and Southeasterners generally understand the good things he is doing for Nigeria, which they said had unfortunately been misunderstood.
They promised to mobilise support for him in the South East, saying that his re-election will be a national consensus.
As the nation moves into election mode with the commencement of election campaigns next week, President Muhammadu Buhari has again, given assurances of his determination to lay a foundation for free, fair and credible elections in the country.
Responding to a speech by a delegation of Imams and senior Islamic scholars from the 36 states of the federation at the State House on Friday, President Buhari said that a number of measures put in place have seen the gradual improvement of elections, as in Edo, Anambra, Ekiti and Osun States from what he described as “dismal and unacceptable levels witnessed in Rivers and Kogi States.”
According to the President,
“What I want to assure Nigerians is that I will continue to pressure the Police and other agencies to do their best to ensure a conducive atmosphere for free and fair elections.”
On the issue of security raised by the religious group, President Buhari said he will continue to nudge security agencies to find lasting solutions, stressing, however, the need for community and religious leaders to play a part in identifying criminals in their midst.
The President thanked the Muslim religious leaders for recognizing the various achievements of the administration especially, in dealing with security, fighting corruption and progress in agriculture.
“I am not satisfied with the reporting of agriculture. Millions of our citizens have returned to the farms with many leaving white collar jobs for opportunities in agriculture,” he noted.
The leader of the delegation, Dr Khalid Aliyu, who is the Secretary-General of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam, had lavishly praised the President’s achievements in key areas of his campaign in 2015 namely, security, corruption and the economy.
According to him, “So far, so good, the government has gone a long way in meeting its promises.”
GARBA SHEHU
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
President Muhammadu Buhari, Friday, stated that his vision and objectives for Nigeria are very clear and he is on course to achieve them.
Speaking when he received members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), led by its President, Reverend (Dr,) Samson Ayokunle in State House, Abuja, President Buhari said he is doing his best to fulfil his electoral promises of securing the country, fighting corruption and resuscitating the economy.
President Buhari said that fighting corruption takes longer time especially with the need to adhere to the rule of law.
“It is on record that some cases initiated by the anti-graft bodies since 2003 are yet to be concluded. We will, however, not be discouraged. Where monies have been recovered, such monies will not find their way back to the looters as I have directed EFCC to account for every money it has recovered and put them in a dedicated account,” President Buhari said.
Responding to the request of the CAN for an overhaul of the intelligence gathering system, President Buhari said the burden of intelligence gathering involves everyone especially district heads, traditional rulers, opinion leaders and especially religious leaders that are very close to the grassroots. He added that bandits who are operating in various communities live among the people and enjoined leaders of thought in various communities to avail security agencies of information about the criminals.
President Buhari also told the visitors that he had assurances from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that the 2019 elections will be free and fair as he has been a victim of fraudulent elections and beneficiary of a free and fair election in the past.
“When I decided to put on this Agbada to see what the people are seeing in it, I tried three times, 2003, 2007 and 2011, but the fourth time, in 2015, I succeeded. We thank God and technology in the form of permanent voters card and card reader because what they used to do was to look at constituencies, award the votes and then they will say whoever didn’t agree should go to court. When people are looking for what to eat, where do they have the money to go to court to pay the SANs?” President Buhari said.
On farmers and herders clashes, President Buhari told the visitors that the government was working towards finding a lasting solution to it.
The CAN delegation had lauded the President for his efforts in fighting corruption, the initiatives to stem the tide of unemployment, the various efforts aimed at revamping the economy, the fight against Boko Haram terrorists and the implementation of the Bank Verification Number and the Treasury Single Account.
They, however, called on the President, to, ensure that the security agencies are non-partisan as we head to 2019 elections; restore peace to troubled spots in Northern parts of the country especially in the Garshish District of Plateau State, and institute a judicial panel of enquiry to look into the killings in the North Central particularly the murder of Major General Idris Alkali (rtd) and the Royal Highness of the Adara Kingdom in Kaduna, Dr Maiwada Raphael Galadima.
They also called on the President to; ensure that Nigeria does not go back into recession; urgently resolve the issue of minimum wage and to task the security agencies to ensure the release of Miss Leah Sharibu and other Chibok girls still in captivity.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
President Muhammadu Buhari has been conferred with the prestigious Polio Champion Award in recognition of his uncommon commitment and leadership in the polio eradication programme in Nigeria.
Rotary International President, Mr Barry Rassin, who is on a four-day official visit to Nigeria, presented the award to President Buhari, Thursday, at State House, Abuja.
The Polio Champion Award was instituted by Rotary International in 1995 to recognize and appreciate Heads of Governments and organisations that have played a key role in polio eradication around the world.
The last recipient of the Award was Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. Other past recipients include Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Receiving the award, the Nigerian leader, while thanking Rotary International for the honour, lauded their commitment to humanitarian work across the globe.
‘‘Rotary International is well known to my generation. Your work is really humanitarian; no amount of materialism can pay you for what you have been doing and we thank you very much.
‘‘I am pleased with the efforts of Rotary International, you are champions of the weak, and I pray that God will abundantly pay you for your humanitarian services. I am also pleased that I have a competent Health Minister, who supervises the work,” the President said.
Earlier in his remarks, Mr Rassin, while commending the President for providing significant leadership in the efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria, advocated for increased political and financial commitments at all levels for routine immunization and primary health care strengthening.
He also commended President Buhari for his commitment to Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) by expanding the presidential task force on polio to include state governors shortly after he took office in 2015.
‘‘You are an inspiration to your country’’, the Rotary president, who was accompanied by his wife, Esther, and other senior Rotarians in Nigeria, told President Buhari.
He said Rotary has contributed $1.7 billion to the global effort to eradicate polio, of which $270m was expended in Nigeria.
‘‘We have come a long way from 1985 when polio was crippling 350,000 children annually in 125 countries of the world to 27 cases in two countries. But even one child paralysed by polio is one child too many. We need to end polio now,’’ Rassin said, adding that Nigeria has not recorded any case of polio in the last 27 months, nine months away from ‘‘possible certification of eradication.’’.
Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
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