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Saturday, April 18, 2015
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APC Rejects May 28 Handover Date

Following the announcement by the Minister of Information, Senator Patricia Akwashiki, that President Jonathan would handover to President-elect Muhammadu Buhari at a dinner on May 28, a day ahead of the usual May 29th date, the APC is said to view the decision as a laced with sinister motives.

Akwashiki had told journalists after the Federal Executive meeting in Abuja on Wednesday that:
“By May 28, the President intends to have the formal handover done at a dinner so that we can reserve May 29 for the incoming government.”
But, a top member of the APC who didn't want to be named told Punch:
 “It is simply not acceptable, we are rejecting it, it is a trap. How can anyone explain a situation where an outgoing president and his team will conveniently excuse themselves from an event where they are supposed to play a role when the President-elect and the Vice-President- elect are supposed to be present?. If Jonathan hands over on the 28th, who accounts for the hours before the morning of the 29th when the Chief Justice of the Federation is to administer the oath of office and the oath of allegiance? What if there is even a sinister motive to this whole saga? As the President of the nation; who will still be the Chief Security officer until he hands over, there is no excuse that is strong enough to excuse him from theevent.”
Also, a member of Buhari's team, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, described the move by President Jonathan to hand over a day earlier as a ploy to rubbish the win by the in-coming government.
“It (the proposed handover on the 28th) portends ill for the political destiny of this nation. That statement is loaded and it shows that the Nigerian people should not rest yet that there is still ominous signs which we should never take for granted. If Jonathan truly said he is handing over on the 28th it presupposes that he will be absent on the 29th.

“Number one, if he hands over on the 28th to the President-elect, does Gen. Muhammadu Buhari start to act effectively on that date? The answer is an emphatic NO. GMB does not start to act on that date, if you get what I mean. Handing over to GMB on that date is not only meaningless, it is stupid. It has no meaning in law, or reality. It means that for 24 hours before GMB takes over there will be a vacuum.”
He said since Nigeria borrowed its constitution substantially from the American Constitution, it is out of place for an outgoing American President, who is hale and hearty, to absent himself from the handover ceremony of his successor no matter their political differences.