President Muhammadu Buhari has assured Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for president, that he will use all of his resources to ensure Tinubu wins the February 25 presidential election.
The president has pledged to continue advocating for Asiwaju Tinubu to be the "next president of Nigeria" as the party's leader and chairman of the APC presidential campaign committee.
President Buhari addressed a sizable crowd at the presidential campaign event held in Lafia Square in Lafia, the capital of Nasarawa State. He supported Abdullahi Sule, the governor of Nasarawa State, Tinubu, and Senator Shettima for reelection.
He commended the party's followers for spending hours in the sweltering weather to demonstrate their backing for the president and governor candidates of the party in the upcoming elections.
His words were, “I congratulate and assure you that God willing, we are going to win through and through. As Tinubu said in his speech, I have known him for more than 20 years, and I will continue to campaign for Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He is a committed Nigerian, and I believe he will give his best to Nigeria.
“Also vote for Abdullahi Sule for a second and final term as governor,” he said.
At the beginning of his speech, the APC presidential candidate thanked the president for being the “poster boy” of his campaign by fighting for Nigeria’s survival and working hard to keep it alive.
According to him: “Nigeria is surviving as a nation. Because of constitutional democracy, we would have asked you to continue, but you said no, you are going back to Daura, your hometown.”
Tinubu also used the forum to scold those who say he has a cold relationship with the president. He said, “those who think there are cracks in our friendship and relationship would continue to be disappointed and have their short-term joy limited.
“Ours is not about the individual but about nation building, honesty, integrity and character,” he said.
The former two-term governor of Lagos state praised President Buhari for staying focused in the face of distractions. He compared him to great and brave leaders like Abraham Lincoln.
He said that if he became president, Nigeria’s brave and strong people would help the country get back on its feet.
Tinubu also said that his government would put agriculture first, build up the country’s mineral resources, and make Nigerians rich.
“We will work hard. We promise you that your children and grandchildren will have no regret about this nation and ourselves,” he said.
Justice Sidi Dauda Bage paid homage to the Emir of Lafia earlier in the day.
President Buhari thanked the first-class traditional ruler for always inviting him to his palace. He said he had lost track of how many times he had been there in the last eight years.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima, his running mate, and the Senate President, Dr Ahmad Lawan, the APC National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, and some APC Governors and party leaders, went with the president.
“Thank you very much, Your Highness, for the affection Lafia and the entire people of Nasarawa State have shown to me always.
“I congratulate you on the rapid transformation of the city. Once more, I wish to express my gratitude and appreciation for the hospitality I have always enjoyed during my visits,” President Buhari wrote in the visitors’ book.
Commenting on Tinubu’s plans, the Emir, a retired Supreme Court Justice, said, “I have known him for many years since my days in Lagos State at the Court of Appeal, we saw what he did, his transformational agenda in the state. We are waiting for that for our nation. We know you can do it, you have the capacity to transform this nation.”
On Saturday, President Buhari opened the Federal Secretariat in Lafia, Nasarawa State. He named the building after Justice Sidi Dauda Bage, a retired Supreme Court Justice and the Emir of Lafia.
The president also gave the Conference Room at the Secretariat the name Maimuna Joyce Katai, who was a citizen of the state.
He said that the two people from Nasarawa State, Justice Bage and the Late Katai, were honoured because of what they had done to help the country grow.
He also opened the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institute and the Sadami Street road, built by the Nasarawa State Government.
Governor Abdullahi Sule thanked the president for starting Federal and State projects. He also said that the NASENI Institute would change how the country grows food.
He also praised the president for helping with education and health care and making the state safer. He said the last four primary school students who had been taken from Alwaza, a community in Doma Local Government Area in the State, have been found.
The governor said, “We didn’t pay any ransom for their safe return.”
Governor Sule said that the president would officially open the 2.2 km Loko-Oweto Bridge and the roads that connect Benue and Nasarawa States in March.
The governor praised the Federal Government’s focus on infrastructure. He called the Oweto bridge and the second Nigeria bridge “signature projects” that will positively affect Nigeria’s economic growth.
The Emir of Lafia extended his gratitude to the president for honouring him by designating the Federal Secretariat in his name and for his unwavering commitment to the state’s growth.
Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna, the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive of NASENI, told the president of the Agricultural Institute that the building was built in six months.
He went on a tour of the Lafia Institute, which has modern labs and machines for mechanised farming and the development of agriculture.
For each of the country’s six geopolitical zones, the president approved the creation of six Agricultural Machinery and Equipment Development Institutes.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, thanked the President, the State government, and the National Assembly for their help in making the project happen at the Federal Secretariat.
The Ministry of Works and Housing says that the contract for the project was given to M/S Falpins Nigeria Limited on December 9, 2011, for the original amount of N2.3 billion.
It was changed to N3.1 billion in August 2020. On September 8, 2022, it was “practically completed”, and the Ministry took it over.
The Secretariat will have space for more than 2,000 people who work for different Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. These people have already shown interest in moving in once the building is finished.