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| taking the oath of allegiance |
President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to be president of all Nigerians and had no scores to settle with anyone. Buhari made the declaration on Friday while taking the oath of office and allegiance at the Eagle Square, Abuja to become Nigeria’s fourth democratically elected President, in this Four Republic.
The oath of allegiance was performed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) before a large crowd of Nigerians, African Heads of State, and his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.
Noting that he took his oath with the Holy Book, Buhari assured Nigerians that he would serve as President of all Nigerians.
“I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody. A few people have privately voiced fears that on coming back to office I shall go after them. These fears are groundless. There will be no paying off old scores. The past is prologue,” he declared.
As his immediate priorities, he also pledged to strengthen the war against insurgency in Nigeria, tackle persistent fuel scarcity; tackle corruption and provide jobs for the youth.
The most pressing of them all, he said, was Boko Haram, and he acknowledged that although progress has been made in recent weeks by the security forces, “victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja. The command centre will be relocated to Maiduguri and remain until Boko Haram is completely subdued.
“But we cannot claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls and all other innocent persons held hostage by insurgents. This government will do all it can to rescue them alive.”
Buhari promised to continue to invest in the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme but sought for the support of the leaders and people of the region to cooperate with government’s plan to streamline the projects for better effectiveness.
The new President further pledged not to interfere with the operations of the two other arms of government -Judiciary and Legislature – and assured Nigerians of reasonable and accepted control over functions of states and local governments.
He charged lawmakers to quicken the process of lawmaking and attending to important bills, and for the judiciary to do same in matters concerning corruption cases.
According to him; “the judicial system needs reform to cleanse itself from its immediate past. The country now expects the judiciary to act with dispatch on all cases especially on corruption, serious financial crimes or abuse of office. It is only when the three arms act constitutionally that government will be enabled to serve the country optimally and avoid the confusion all too often bedeviling governance today.”
“Elsewhere, relations between Abuja and the States have to be clarified if we are to serve the country better. Constitutionally there are limits to powers of each of the three tiers of government but that should not mean the Federal Government should fold its arms and close its eyes to what is going on in the states and local governments. Not least the operations of the Local Government Joint Account.”
“While the Federal Government cannot interfere in the details of its operations it will ensure that the gross corruption at the local level is checked. As far as the constitution allows me I will try to ensure that there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country.”
He thanked his predecessor, Jonathan for acting in a statesmanlike manner in the aftermath of the presidential elections, saying that such conduct showed it was possible for Nigeria to show the world that despite the perceived tension in the land the people can remain united and capable of doing what is right for the nation.
“Together we co-operated to surprise the world that had come to expect only the worst from Nigeria. I hope this act of graciously accepting defeat by the outgoing President will become the standard of political conduct in the country”, he added.
Immediately after taking the oath of office, jubilant youths numbering over ten thousand on Friday, defiled heavy security blockade mounted by a combined team of the Nigerian Police,the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC)the Federal Road Safety Commission(FRSC) and a detachment of military personnel to celebrate the new President .
They chanted solidarity songs,”Say Baba,say Buhari”, While a good number of them carried brooms and danced to musical tunes from northern musicians.
Prior to the inauguration proper, all routes leading to the Eagle Square were cordoned-off with only security officials and VIP dignitaries allowed to drive close to the venue.
Access roads to the Eagle Square had been restricted from the previous day. As early as6am on inauguration day, as visitors had begun to converge within the vicinity of the Square, which had of course, been already heavily secured by various arms of the nation’s security agencies.
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