President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday afternoon left Nigeria for Europe on a working visit.
He will use the opportunity of the trip to fine tune the transition plans and programmes, and his policy options with some of his key aides without unnecessary pressures and distractions.
According to a statement by Mr. Tunde Rahman of his media office, during the visit, the President-elect would engage with investors and other key allies with the goal of marketing investment opportunities in the country and his administration’s readiness to enable a business-friendly climate through policies and regulations.
He said already, meetings with multi-sectoral actors in Europe’s business community including manufacturing, agriculture, tech and energy had been lined up.
Tinubu hopes to convince them of Nigeria’s readiness to do business under his leadership through mutually-beneficial partnerships premised on jobs creation and skills acquisition.
Reviving the country’s economy forms a major plank of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda and the meeting is part of his efforts to re-establish Nigeria’s importance in the global economic chain and create empowering opportunities for the country’s huge youth population.
The President-elect has hitherto promised to hit the ground running and the visit is reflective of his commitment to the promise as he has already begun talks with global actors in the important areas of the economy and security.
Before he left the country, Tinubu met with the House of Representatives candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker endorsed by his party, the All Progressives Congress, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas and Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who were presented to him by Joint Task Team of the House.
He is scheduled to return shortly for preparations towards his official swearing in as the 16th President of the country on May 29, 2023.
In another development, The Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), under the leadership of Justice Haruna Tsammani, has ruled to dismiss the petition filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP). The petition challenged the declaration of Bola Tinubu, representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the February 25 presidential election. Read Also Breaking: Fire guts Nigerian Air Force base This marks the second instance in which petitions have been dismissed by the court since the commencement of its proceedings on Monday. The first of these was the petition brought forth by the Action Alliance (AA), under the leadership of Adekunle Rufai Omoaje. At the onset of the proceedings on Wednesday, counsel for APP, Obed Agu, apprised the court that his client had submitted a motion on notice dated March 9, 2023, requesting the retraction of its petition. Read Also Breaking: Unknown Gunmen attack Plateau varsity According to Agu, the motion has been filed in accordance with paragraph 29(1)(2)(3)(4) of the schedule for election petition. The petition included the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu, and the APC as respondents. Obed stated that his motion requests the court to grant the petitioner permission to withdraw their petition numbered CA/PEPC/02/2023, and to issue an order striking out the petition upon its withdrawal. RECOMMENDED FOR YOU Breaking: Fire guts Nigerian Air Force base May 10, 2023 Another Political Party withdraws petition challenging… May 10, 2023 Again, Buhari abandons Nigeria Hospital for UK over teeth… May 10, 2023 The legal representatives for the respondents, namely Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for Tinubu, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the APC, and Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) for INEC, did not raise any objections to the petitioner’s motion to withdraw. In regards to the aforementioned application, Justice Tsammani has ruled that after careful consideration of both the application and response of the respondents, it has been determined that there was no collision on the part of the respondents. As a result, petition number CA/PEPC/02/2023 has been dismissed as it has been withdrawn.
