Aso Rock Villa, Nigeria’s seat of power, wears a new look. This is the result of several weeks of clean-up exercises to make the place a beauty to behold for the new occupant, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is moving in tomorrow, Monday, May 29, 2023.

Tinubu, who emerged victorious, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the February 25 Presidential Election, would be the ninth person to occupy the Presidential Villa since Ibrahim Babangida hurriedly moved into the fortress on December 12, 1991, in the aftermath of the Gideon Orkar led failed coup of April 22, 1990.

Dodan Barracks in Lagos had been the seat of power from July 1966 when a counter-coup brought General Yakubu Gowon (second Nigerian military head of state) to power.

It was the operational headquarters of military governments during the Nigerian Civil War and from 1966 to 1979 and 1983 to 1991.

Tinubu will be moving in with his wife, Senator Remi Tinubu, and other members of his family just as Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha, will be taking leave of the place that has been their home for the past eight years.

Maintenance officers drawn from Julius Berger, the firm responsible for the daily maintenance of facilities within the Villa, had put finishing touches on the place ahead of the inauguration ceremony tomorrow.

In the last observation, it was noticed that the President’s office, his residence, which is just a stone throw from the office, the Council Chamber where the Federal Executive Council meetings are held, were all wearing a new look.

Beyond this, the concrete perimeter fence bordering the President’s office, his official residence, the Council Chamber, press gallery, including the Vice President’s wing, as well as other administrative offices were being recoated with white oil paints, which is of higher quality and more expensive than the usual ones in the open market.

Prior to the maintenance exercise, the management of the State House had overhauled the card readers which logs in staff as they arrive for work and installed barricades in entry and exit points that were non-functional in the past.

It was also gathered from sources within the Villa that the maintenance exercise is partly being financed by the Presidential Transition Council, which is under the purview of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.

Recently, SUNDAY INDEPENDENT stumbled on a tweet by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, where he leaked a photograph showing some men busy painting the external wall of the Villa with white and green paints.

Shehu had indicated that the painting was being done to herald the incoming president.

Shehu had written under the picture, “Painter at work. Villa wearing a new look for the incoming President.”

On Thursday May 25^th the vice president-elect was spotted in the Villa being led on a familiarization tour of the Villa by the out-going vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

Similarly, President Muhammadu Buhari and his successor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, were on Friday spotted together going round the Presidential Villa, apparently on a familiarization tour, too.

The tour around the seat of power is to acquaint the incoming president with the workings of the State House, from where he would preside over the affairs of Nigeria.

This comes ahead of the May 29, 2023 inauguration, expected to take place at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

At the Press Gallery, which is an adjoining space to the Council Chambers of the State House, the two leaders stood for a couple of minutes, listening to their guide, Kazaure, but did not speak to newsmen who had expected to have a couple of questions answered.

The president and his successor, followed by a large retinue of presidency officials and security personnel, were guided on the tour by the State Chief of Protocols (SCoP), Ambassador Lawal Kazaure.

Other top officials of the State House, including the Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the Permanent Secretary, Umar Tijjani, were among those that accompanied the President to take the incoming President round the President’s wing of the State House.

The development comes barely 24 hours after the President, at the State House Banquet Hall, conferred upon Tinubu the National honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic.

His deputy, Kashim Shettima, was given the honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger.

Both leaders had exchanged documents ahead of the official handover of power tomorrow.

Still on the emergence of Aso Rock Villa, it will be recalled that with the creation of the Federal Capital Territory in 1976, the Akinola Aguda House used to serve as a presidential lodge and guest-house complex.

According to the design and concept, it was fashioned as a temporary official residence for the President.

It was comprised mainly of guest-houses for visiting Heads of State, especially when Alhaji Shehu Shagari was at the helm of affairs as President (1979-1983).

Records also have it that in October 1982, the Aguda House played host to the first ever formal cabinet meeting held outside Lagos, few days after Abuja also played host to Nigeria’s Independence anniversary celebration for the first time.

But as the FCT gained more traction in terms of acceptance as the nation’s capital, with population bloat, construction of a new presidential residence commenced in 1985.

The administration of former military Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida completed the new Aso Rock Villa in 1991.

Babangida also became the first Head of State to occupy it.

Meanwhile, the Aguda House became like an annex, hence was ceded to the office of the Vice-President, and has maintained that status till date — apart from the period between 1999 and 2007 when the Vice-President lived in a residence which later metamorphosed into the official quarters for the Chief Justice of Nigeria.

Prior to the emergence of the outgoing administration, construction of a new vice-presidential residence commenced in 2010 but has not been completed till date.

Years after the idea of a new federal capital was mulled, a lot has changed with respect to the geophysical appearance of the Presidential Complex, located in the Three Arms Zone of the Federal Capital Territory.

On Thursday and Friday, probably owing to some security concerns and alleged plots by mischievous elements to disrupt the inauguration ceremony, officials of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian military were on red alert around the precincts of power to avert any ugly occurrence.

Nigerian Airforce jets were observed doing air drills around the city centre in an apparent show of force, ahead of the D-Day when Tinubu will assume duties as Nigeria’s President.

High Expectations

Across the nation, Nigerians have indicated their expectations from the incoming government.

Hon. Cynthia Ngozi Uchime, a House of Representatives candidate for the Nkanu East Nkanu West Constituency in Enugu State on the platform of the APC, maintained that Tinubu is noted to be an action man with the knack for human capacity development, virtues which he will use to turn things around in the nation.

Hon. Uchime stated: “HE Bola Ahmed Tinubu will work to keep his promise of ‘Renewed Hope’ by continuing from the good works of HE Muhammed Buhari.

“He will run an all-inclusive government. He will choose the best brains and hands to head different parastatals, and a replica of what he did as governor of Lagos State.

“Asiwaju Tinubu will ensure the development of all geographical zones. He will not discriminate in the development of different geographical zones, based on what suits each zone.

“For example, he promised the South East an industrial hub. He will ensure women’s inclusiveness. By the grace of God women will dominate his appointments by 60%.”

Dr. Victor Mathew, a security expert and human rights promoter, maintained that the Tinubu government is inheriting a disjointed and sharply divided society, a very huge debt profile, mass poverty, wholesome insecurity with unbelievable killings going on, a high inflation and many other woes.

Dr Victor, Executive Director of Kingdom Advocacy Network (KAN), stated: “Ahmed Tinubu has to start out in unifying a largely fragmented country through his non statutory appointments, unlike Buhari who obviously favoured the North, especially northern Muslims.

“The government must announce its cabinet and they have to start working. Another thing that I expect from them is this borrowing culture of the Buhari government. They have to be creative and inventive in growing revenue to fund projects.

“Another very troubling area is insecurity. The government must stop the massacre going on, especially in the North Central, and deal decisively with kidnappings, killings in the South East as well. I expect the government to revive the manufacturing sector where many jobs will be created.

“Another of expectation is fighting corruption, which I don’t know if the President can do it because he himself does not seem to be allergic to corruption

“The subsidy regime has to go, not just by removing subsidies, but growing our domestic ability to refine enough products for local consumption. I just hope in the next four years, Nigerians will not be disappointed.”

Another commentator, Dr Frank Freds Nwosu, a management expert, stated: “Sincerity demands frankness of me as a senior citizen of this great country.

“From the antecedents of most politicians and our endless experience with unfulfilled promises, I can frankly tell you that I have absolutely no expectations from Tinubu and the new gang of politicians he may select to work with.

“He has the opportunity to get things right at this unpredictable time, with the hesitant chances being grudgingly doled out to him by the political class. He also has the immunity to fling caution to the wind and do or undo the doings of his predecessor.

“In the long run, history will either vindicate his stubborn insistence to grab ‘his turn’ on the political seat, and be kind to him; or his great accomplishments in all past years, which actually turned dirty Lagos into a mega city, will be rubbished, along with his integrity, in one fell swoop. Time is a healer and a killer as well. Let us give the President-elect time.”

Tasks Ahead

Meanwhile, former President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, has advised the president-elect, Asiwaju Tinubu, to see himself as father to all and use his administration as a force to bond the Nigerians together.

Kenyatta gave the admonition on Saturday, while delivering a keynote address at the presidential inauguration lecture held ahead of Tinubu’s swearing-in on May 29.

According to Kenyatta, now that elections was over, the onus now falls on the incoming President to unite all citizens irrespective of their religion, tribe, political and other affiliations.

The former Kenyan President stated, the contest is now over “and the hard work of building a prosperous and unified Nigeria now begins.”

On its part, the African Development Bank has tasked the incoming President to rise above party lines and other affiliation and forge economic policies with compelling force to move the nation forward.

President of the bank, Akinwumi Adesina who bared his mind in a speech he delivered during the inaugural lecture for the new President at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, noted that Nigeria will be looking up to Tinubu to revive the many fiscal challenges including insecurity that have conspired to weigh down the country, and divided the people.

“Nigeria’s fuel subsidies benefit the rich, not the poor, fueling the government’s endless fleets of cars at the expense of the poor. Estimates show that the poorest 40% of the population consume just 3% of petrol.

“Fuel subsidies are killing the Nigerian economy, costing Nigeria $10 billion alone in 2022. That means Nigeria is borrowing what it does not have to if it simply eliminates the subsidies and uses the resources well for its national development.” (Sunday Independent)

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