• Mustapha: We will proceed with Tinubu’s inauguration despite ongoing litigations
• Buhari to confer GCFR, GCON titles on Tinubu, Shettima, handover transition documents May 25
• PSI raises alarm, says foreign, local agents working to thwart inauguration

With barely 10 days to the inauguration of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, on May 29, the Presidential Transition Council (PTC), yesterday, unveiled programme of events for the handover ceremony, while assuring Nigerians and the global community of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to the seamless transfer of power.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman, PTC, Boss Mustapha, while unveiling the programme in Abuja, disclosed that President Buhari will on Thursday, May 25, officially handover transition documents to the incoming administration led by the President-elect.

The PTC has, however, advised those who do not have business at Eagle Square, Abuja, on May 29, to stay off. The President-elect, Tinubu, and Vice-President-elect, Kashim Shettima, will take their oaths of office as the 16th President and Vice President of Nigeria at the Eagle Square.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Babagana Monguno (retd), who is a member of the council, said all arrangements for accreditation and issuance of passes and identity documents for security agents had been concluded.

“My only advice is that if you have no business in security, you need not be near the vicinity of the programme, especially on the inauguration day.

“The most important thing I need to convey to you is that we do not envisage anything that will be adverse or negative. So, I urge everybody to be calm, especially the people who use social media,” he said.

Mustapha described the upcoming event as historically significant, as the inauguration programme has as its theme, ‘Nigeria: Better Together.’

He said: “All events will be broadcast live on all major stations and streamed on various social media platforms. So far, invitations have been sent to the Presidents and Heads of Government as well as Heads of International Organisations. We are also glad to report that many of these invitees have confirmed attendance in person.

“Let me assure everyone that adequate arrangements have been made for the safety and security of all people throughout the inauguration period,” he said.

Responding to a question on protests against the inauguration by some opposition elements, Mustapha said: “Let me say without any fear of contradiction, there will be an inauguration on May 29. We will proceed with the inauguration of President-elect and the litigation will continue. Our Constitution and Electoral Act have dealt with that, which envisage that litigations between the tribunal and the appellate court should last 240 days, 180 for the determination of the petition at the Court of Appeal and 60 days for the determination of the appeal at the Supreme Court. Our laws are sacrosanct.

“This is not the first time we have had elections. In my active political life, I have witnessed different transitions starting from the Shagari transition, it was litigated but they went ahead with the inauguration, the next one after Shagari was Obasanjo, it was litigated in 1999, we continued till 2003, that was when Buhari jumped into the ring. If you remember, he spent months in the tribunal before he got to the Supreme Court and he repeated that three times.

“The only election that was not litigated was in 2015. Jonathan was the only one that conceded defeat and called President Buhari and we had a seamless transition. So with or without litigation, there will be inauguration on May 29,” he said.

As part of the inauguration programme, President Buhari will on Thursday, May 25, confer national honours on Tinubu and Shettima. Both will be conferred with the honours of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) and Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON) at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja, followed by an official handover of Transition Documents to the incoming administration.

According to the PTC Chairman, this process will be the most organised and seamless Presidential Transition in the history of Nigeria, enabled by Executive Order 14 signed by President Buhari.

Shortly after, on Saturday, May 27, an Inauguration Lecture on the topic: Deepening Democracy for Integration and Development, will be delivered by former President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta. This will be followed closely by a Children’s Day event, which would involve a parade and party for kids.

As part of the schedule of activities, an inter-denominational church service will hold on Sunday, May 28 at the National Christian Centre by 10:00am and an Inauguration Dinner/Gala Night will take place later same day at the State House Conference Centre.

The SGF further stated that on Monday, May 29, the Inauguration Parade/Swearing-In will hold at the Eagle Square by 10:00a.m. followed afterwards by a post-Inauguration Luncheon.

Mustapha assured that adequate arrangements have been made for the safety and security of all people throughout the inauguration period.

MEANWHILE, pro-democracy group, the Peace and Stability Initiative (PSI), has raised the alarm over renewed plot to truncate the mandate of the President-elect.

In a statement, coordinator of the body, Ali Ali, said the organisation has uncovered plans by local and foreign interests to thwart the May 29 inauguration. He added that foreign agents collaborating with local organisations masquerading as civil society groups are at the centre of the plot.

“These agents of destabilisation have not relented in their evil plots even though we are just a few days away to May 29.”

According to him, intelligence reports at their disposal indicate a new plot by local opposition elements goaded by a foreign union to release a skewed and stage-managed report on the 2023 general elections, with emphasis on the presidential election.

He claimed that the heavily slanted report, based on the views of biased observers, will be released any moment from now.

The group alleged that the release is deliberately timed to achieve the sinister objective to dampen the celebratory mood in the country ahead of the inauguration.

The second, it alleged, is to intimidate and hope to influence the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) that has just commenced the process of adjudicating on the petitions before it.

It noted: “We are putting this busybody, meddlesome international development agency that has constituted itself into an interloper in our country’s internal affairs on notice that Nigeria is a sovereign state. It is no longer a vassal state, tied to the apron strings of neo-colonialists that can be harassed by special foreign interests seeking to cause internal strife.

“We also view their planned action as contemptuous of our country’s judicial system as all litigations about the general elections are now before our courts for adjudication.”