President Muhammadu Buhari has asked ministers to continue in office until Tuesday next week, a day to his inauguration for a second term as Nigeria’s president.
He also ordered the ministers to submit their handover letters to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
Speaking during a valedictory Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, Abuja, Wednesday, Mr Buhari said: “Although today is our last council meeting, continue to work until Tuesday. Your handover letters should be submitted to the office of the SGF.”
The presidency in a tweet also said the ministers would be handing over to permanent secretaries in their ministries.
The president commended the ministers for contributing to the development of the country.
Buhari is expected to name a new cabinet after his May 29 inauguration. Some of the outgoing ministers may still be named in the new cabinet.
…warns drug traffickers ‘respect Saudi Arabia’s law or face consequence’
President Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigerians residing in Saudi Arabia to respect the laws of the country especially as it relates to the prohibition of hard drugs.
The President said this on Tuesday when he received the leaders of Nigerian Community in Saudi Arabia during his visit to the country to perform lesser pilgrimage.
He stated that efforts being made against drug trafficking would be sustained while urging Nigerians in Diaspora to respect the laws of Saudi Arabia and always provide information that will help the government to curb the menace.
“Every country has its own unpatriotic citizens. In China and Saudi Arabia, the laws are stringent on these things. Our citizens must obey our laws. They must respect the laws of other jurisdictions and if they don’t, then they should blame themselves, not the harsh laws that they meet,” President Buhari said.
He also said that the country would intensify efforts to expose everyone involved in drug trafficking and illegal trade in Saudi Arabia.
President Buhari called for an expansion of searchlights on the recent exposure of a network of drug dealers operating at one of Nigeria’s international airports, who were discovered to be tagging bags filled with drugs in the name of innocent passengers.
Tinubu is nice but can’t be president in 2023 – Kuta
Following the interest shown by some individuals to become the country’s president in 2023, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Adamu Kuta, has criticised the party national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, for saying he is under pressure to contest after President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2nd term in office which begins on May 29.
Kuta, a former member of the House of Representatives from Niger State made the statement on Tuesday, in Minna.
He acknowledged that Tinubu has contributed greatly to the success of APC, but he is not fit to be the President of Nigeria.
“I like Tinubu as a person and he has contributed immensely to the success of our party, but honestly he is not the kind of president Nigeria needs in 2023.
“Nigerians need someone that can continue with the achievements and the foundation that Buhari has laid.
“We want someone that can continue from where Buhari will stop in 2023.”
The APC chieftain dismissed insinuations that in view of the current crisis in the ruling party, there might not be an APC after Buhari in 2023.
“Crisis is not new in party politics and every political party has its own share of the crisis.
“It is the good work of Buhari in the next four years that will determine whether or not the party can last beyond 2023. But the good work Buhari is doing now, there is no doubt that the party will win the 2023 election,” he said.
He further said that any zone can produce the president in 2023, noting that the Nigerian constitution does not recognise zoning of political offices.
“The last general election had presidential candidates from every region of the country and nobody stopped them because the constitution recognises them.
“So every region has the constitutional right to field candidates for any elective position in the country.
“Our focus should be how to get a credible candidate that will take over from Buhari in 2023, regardless of the region the person will come from. We want the best for the country.”
