President Muhammadu Buhari has described residents of the federal capital territory (FCT) as \u201cnecessary evil\u201d for voting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general election.
\nThe Cable, an online newspaper, quoted the President as saying\u00a0 when a delegation of FCT residents paid him Sallah homage at Aso Rock on Tuesday, that he is putting necessary measures in place to make Abuja secure for \u201cmyself and the vice-president\u201d.
\nHe also said he was pleased that Philip Aduda, senator representing FCT, was seated far from him at the event.
\n\u201cI want to appreciate the number two man of the country because he knows what we are going through very quietly. I am very pleased that you came with this very powerful constituency,\u201d Buhari said.
\n\u201cI appeal to you to remain exemplary so that those under you will know that the country is doing very well. If you break down and complain, the impact will reverberate all over and then government will not be popular and whatever efforts we are making will not be appreciated.
\n\u201cI have just spoken to the senator on my left (Philip Aduda) and I told him that his constituency did not vote for me. So, I was very pleased that when they made the arrangement they put him very far way from me.
\n\u201cI have all the results of all constituencies. I am not threatening FCT because to make FCT secure is to make myself secure and the vice-president. I think they know that they are necessary evil that was why they decided to vote for PDP.\u201d
\nAccording to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Buhari, while receiving the guests, said, that FCT was a strategic part of Nigeria and that securing it would be taken seriously by his administration.
\nBuhari took the guests down the memory lane of his `long journey\u2019 to Presidency from 2003, 2007, 2011 to 2015, saying they were interesting political developments that enabled him to visit all the 774 local governments in the country.
\nHe thanked his supporters for their steadfastness and pledged to give his best in service to the country despite the odds.
\nOn his part, Osinbajo congratulated the president on the solemn occasion that marked the end of the Ramadan.
\nAccording to the vice president, God has been extremely good to the president and to the government.
\n\u201cI believe that our country is at a threshold of the breakthrough that we have been praying for and hoping for all these many years. And this is why many challenges are going on.
\n\u201cChallenges around security, religion, people who are stoking up ambers\u00a0 of lagoon, religious grievance and ethnic divisions and all that.
\n\u201cBut this gathering is one of those gatherings that we are at liberty, political leadership, religious leadership to demonstrate to our people that this country is a country of one people, the Nigerian people.
\n\u201cThey may be different in their faith, ethnicity but we are one people? We are one and united people.
\n\u201cI want to commend all our leaders, who are here for making this tradition, that we will come together \u2013 Christians, Muslims, and people of different faith to demonstrate that this country is a united country;\u00a0 and that those who will want to stoke up embers or division we will not allow them to do so.
\n\u201cSo, I want to urge all our leaders here that we must not allow the rhetoric of religion to supersede the rhetoric of unity; we must also speak up; we must seek ways that will unite our country.\u2019\u2019
\nSpeaking, Mr Christian Oha, Permanent Secretary, FCT, congratulated Buhari for the success of his inauguration which marked the beginning of his second term in office.
\n\u201cWe pray that almighty in his infinite goodness and mercy, continue to grant you good health and wisdom as you steer our country back to the path of social harmony, security and economic recovery.
\n\u201cThe people of the FCT stand solidly behind you as you begin this task and pledge our support and cooperation in the coming years ahead.
\n\u201cWe do this sir, because we are a grateful people. Over the last four years, the FCT has benefited immensely from your divinely inspired leadership;
\n\u201cWe have enjoyed peace and the social intervention programmes have filled the gaps in our educational system and provided succor for thousands of our people.
\n\u201cWe in the FCT will continue to do our part to ensure that you succeed in your second term in office starting of course with first celebration of our Democracy Day on June 12.
\n\u201cOur people have been mobilised to be exceptional hosts to the hundreds of foreign guests who we know will honour the invitation to be here and felicitate with us,\u2019\u2019 he said.
\nAmong the guests were Prof. Shehu Umar Galadanci, Murshid Abuja Central Mosque, former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin and Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai.
\nOthers were Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Ibok-Ete Ibas and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, and the\u00a0 Director General of Department for State Service (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, Civil Defence FCT Commandant
\nMore so, the \u00a0Permanent Secretary, State House, Jalal Arabi, former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu and CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele were in attendance.
\nOn his part, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo commended Buhari for his \u201cgreat leadership.\u201d
\n\u201cI want to commend you for the great leadership you have shown in the past four years and in this second term, I pray that God almighty will help you and strengthen you, give you the grace and understanding and empower you even more to be able to do the things you desire in your heart to do make this country really great,\u201d Osinbajo said.
\n\u201cOur country as it is today, is at a threshold of greatness, you have said so many times. Any time when something great\u00a0\u00a0and something important is about to happen, usually you will have very many and negative opposing voices that want to keep that thing from happening.
\n\u201cI believe that our country is at a threshold of the breakthrough that we have been praying for and hoping for all these many years. And this is why many challenges are going on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Muhammadu Buhari has described residents of the federal capital territory (FCT) as \u201cnecessary evil\u201d for voting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last general election. The Cable, an online newspaper, quoted the President as saying\u00a0 when a delegation of FCT residents paid him Sallah homage at Aso Rock on Tuesday, that he is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}