According to the outgoing President, Tinubu’s dream to become President was propelled by a desire to make Nigeria better.
President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria's ‘President-elect’, Bola Tinubu is the best among all the candidates that sought to succeed him in office.
Buhari, who stated this in a nationwide broadcast to mark the end of his administration, noted that Tinubu had worked for the past 10 years to realise his dream of becoming Nigeria's president.
According to the outgoing President, Tinubu’s dream to become President was propelled by a desire to make Nigeria better.
Buhari is scheduled to hand over power to Tinubu on Monday, May 29, 2023. The ruling All Progressives Congress candidate, Tinubu was declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, having polled 8,794,726 votes.
The electoral body declared that Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party came second with 6,984,520 votes and that Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third with 6,101,533 votes.
Meanwhile, Atiku, Obi and their parties have challenged the outcome of the presidential election and Tinubu’s victory at the election petition tribunal, which has not ruled on the matter yet.
He said, "To my brother, friend and fellow worker in the political terrain for the past ten years – Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu -, I congratulate you on the realisation of your dream, which was propelled by a burning passion to put Nigeria amongst the leading nations of the world.
"You 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.
"You are the best candidate among all the contestants and Nigerians have chosen well."
The outgoing president, however, appealed to Nigerians to support him to succeed where he has failed.
Buhari said, "The last eight years have been an exciting experience in my desire and commitment to see a Nigeria in which public goods and services are available and accessible within a united, peaceful and secure nation."
"In the course of the campaigns, we had argued and disagreed on how to make Nigeria better but we never disagreed or had any doubts that Nigeria has to be better.
"As your President, I call on all of us to bring to bear the strength of our individualism, the power of our unity, the convictions of our beliefs to make Nigeria work better and together with one spirit and one purpose."