With just about 35 days to the May 29 inauguration, president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is billed to arrive in Nigeria today.
We gathered that Tinubu whose plane is billed to land the presidential wing of the Abuja Airport will be escorted from the airport by a carnival-like motorcade to the Defence House.
The president-elect had jetted out of Nigeria to France on March 21, a trip his campaign council said was meant for him to take a rest and plan ahead of his inauguration on May 29.
A statement by the APC presidential campaign council had in March noted that Tinubu travelled to France to rest and plan his transition programme after a very exhaustive campaign and election season.
“The president-elect had left the country through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja.
According to the statement, the president-elect decided to take a break after the hectic campaign and election season to rest in Paris and London, preparatory to going to Saudi Arabia for Umrah (Lesser Hajj) and the Ramadan Fasting,” the statement noted.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had dissolved it presidential campaign council.
The campaign team led by Plateau state governor, Simon Lalong, as director general and James Faleke as secretary was set up last year to pilot the affairs of the APC campaign.
Special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital Communications, Bashir Ahmad, who took to his Twitter handle to announce the dissolution, said,
“Our great party, APC has dissolved its Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) inaugurated last year to prosecute the 2023 presidential election.
The dissolution was contained in a statement jointly signed by the DG of the Council, Gov Simon Lalong and the Secretary, Hon James Faleke”.
In a statement jointly signed by Lalong and Faleke, the party on behalf of the chairman of the Presidential Campaign Council, President Muhammadu Buhari; president-elect, Bola Tinubu and other leaders, the council members, leaders and supporters for working assiduously for the resounding victory of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The statement reads in part: “Since the campaign council began in September 2022, we have witnessed an unprecedented, relentless, and engaging mobilisation of our members nationwide and in the diaspora towards securing the majority popular votes for the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential ticket.
“The journey has been a worthy one with our hard-won victory. The credit goes to all our members particularly, the leaders and members of the various campaign directorates.
“We would like to express our deepest appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, for his unwavering support and leadership throughout the campaign. We could not have achieved this level of success without his single-mindedness, commitment, and forthrightness.
“However, we have concluded that it is in the best interest of the campaign and its stakeholders for us to dissolve our council with immediate effect.
This has become necessary to retune us towards the May 29, 2023, inauguration of the President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
“The process of transitioning into a new era of a Renewed Hope is underway and all our energies and activities must reflect the principles underlying this process.
“We hope that you will all continue to stay involved in Nigeria’s political process and to advocate for issues that you believe in.
Our democracy is stronger when we all participate in the political process with patriotism.We would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your support, dedication, and hard work”.