Buhari Returns from Addis Ababa

•To lead APC presidential campaign grand finale in Lagos today

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari is back in Abuja after participating in the 36th Summit of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.

Buhari, who returned to Abuja, via the presidential wing of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport yesterday afternoon, was received by top government officials including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; his Chief of Staff, Prof Ibrahim Gambari; Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mohammed Bello and Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba.

The president, who left the country last Thursday, participated in a couple of events during the three-day outing, including high-level meetings on peace and security, climate change and the political situation in some West African countries.

Aside the AU Summit with the theme: “Acceleration of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Implementation,” Buhari also took part in an Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which held on the sidelines of the main event.

He also took part in the second Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC), where Nigeria was picked to host Secretariat of the Sahel Climate Fund.

During some of the meetings of the 36th AU Summit, the president presented Nigeria’s positions on critical continental issues, including urging member-states of the Union to ratify the AfCFTA Agreement for the economic development of the continent, as well as calling on them to strengthen early warning systems to rein in conflicts.

Speaking yesterday shortly before departing Addis Ababa,  the president said he took the existing neighborly relations between Nigeria and the Union of Comoro Islands as important, for which he would be briefing his successor on the need to keep them.

  According to a release by presidential spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu, Buhari during an interactive session with President Azali Assoumani of the Union of Comoros, who just took over as the Chairperson of the African Union for 2023, thanked the Island nation for being a good neighbor.

“As developing states, we have to follow through on the correct steps to achieve development. I thank you for being a good neighbor and the consistency of your friendship. I will brief my next successor from my party on keeping this important relationship. Congratulations on your emergence as the Chairperson of the AU,” he said.

 Meanwhile, the president is expected to lead other leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), including the party’s presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to Lagos today, for the grand finale of the presidential campaign of the party.