By Hassan Umar Farouk, State House correspondent
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president-elect, and Kashim Shettima, the vice president-elect, yesterday officially assumed their positions as president and vice president of Nigeria, respectively.
Chief Justice of the Federation, Olukayode Ariwoola, administered the oath of office to the President, shortly after the Vice-President took his oath of office a few minutes after ten, yesterday morning, at Eagle Square, Abuja.
Tinubu became one of the 16 Nigerians privileged to occupy the nation’s highest political office since its independence in 1960, and also its seventh civilian to do so.
The President assured to live up to expectations by addressing all the challenges confronting the country and deliver on his pledges.
Tinubu, who spoke at the Inauguration Dinner/Gala Night, organized by the Presidential Transition Council, PTC, at the Old Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja, also promised to set Nigeria back on the path of growth, poverty, and policy inconsistency notwithstanding. He noted that though there are many issues confronting the country, including corruption, poverty and policy inconsistency, none of them would be an excuse for non-performance by his administration.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) proclaimed Tinubu, a former senator and governor of Lagos State, the victor of the presidential election held in February 2023.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, Atiku Abubakar, who polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election, while Peter Obi, of the Labour Party (LP) came third in the election, with a total of 6,101,533 votes and Rabiu Kwankwaso, of the NNPP, came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
