The President-elect Bola Tinubu has promised not to disappoint the trust conferred upon him by President Muhammadu Buhari and millions of Nigerians.

He made this statement while presenting his acceptance speech after he was conferred with the National Honour of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, GCFR at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja today.

Tinubu said, “I understand the magnitude of the honour conferred on me today and the task ahead. Nigerians deserve no less. You (Buhari) have charted the course and I shall not disappoint you.”

The development comes after Buhari handed three key transition documents to the president-elect in line with Executive Order 14 mandating the transition council to issue handover notes containing, amongst other things, proposed policy direction to the incoming administration.

The conferment makes Tinubu the 16th person to hold the GCFR Honour. The ‘Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) is the highest national honorary grant in the country exclusively conferred on presidents and former heads of state.

Tinubu who was declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was conferred with this honour ahead of the 29th of May inaugural ceremony.

Influential figures who received the GCFR before Tinubu are Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, Sani Abacha, Moshood Abiola, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.

Also, the British Monarch Queen Elizabeth II, South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and former Libyan Leader, Muammar Gaddafi have been conferred with this honour.

Furthermore, Buhari conferred vice president-elect Kashim Shettima with the honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger. The event is part of the activities lined up for the inauguration ceremony.

TEXT OF ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PRESIDENT-ELECT, ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU AT HIS INVESTITURE FOR HIGHEST NATIONAL HONOUR IN ABUJA ON THURSDAY MAY 25TH, 2023

  1. Thank You, Mr. President, for bestowing the nation’s highest honors on my Vice President elect Shettima and me.
  2. Our deep thanks also for the transition documents and the committed work performed by the transition council headed by the SGF.
  3. The documents summarize the immense work of your administration. They constitute an impressive and noteworthy scorecard.
  4. You have made history and no one can take your contribution to our nation’s development.
  5. Your devotion to progressive and democratic good governance is unassailable.
  6. As such, I stand here renewed not only in hope but also in dedication to our national purpose and destiny.
  7. I also feel full of pride but this pride I feel is not for myself. It is for what this moment represents.
  8. This stately occasion is living evidence that Nigeria is a vibrant and true democracy. All of us here bear witness to this inspiring proceeding where one leader bestows personal honor on his successor. Also, that leader does his utmost to exchange the baton of government by ensuring that his successor is as well-prepared as possible for the task at hand.
  9. This hall is permeated with a sense of reverence for our democracy and the confident belief that this reverence shall be enshrined for generations to come.
  10. Today is more than ceremony. It confirms that our path is right and that nothing will deter us from adhering to it.
  11. Our way shall not always be smooth. Yet we are imbued with faith in our purpose and a firm belief in our collective ability to overcome the challenges that confront us.
  12. President Buhari, you have shown courage in taking tough decisions others avoided.
  13. One such decision was to recognize the injustice of the annulment of the 1993 election, to designate June
    12 as Democracy Day, and to bestow the nation’s highest honor on the late MKO Abiola.

14 As much as anyone could, you reached back into history to set the record straight and heal a festering wound.

  1. The justice you did in this matter lends special meaning to today.
  2. I am a simple man who is the beneficiary of the support and goodwill of the people of Nigeria.
  3. The people have put their trust in us. You have done your part Mr. President.
  4. Now, that great duty descends on me. I understand the meaning of the honor given to me today and of the task that awaits.
  5. I must run this race and must do it well. On security, the economy, agriculture, jobs, education, health and power and in all other sectors we must make headway. The people deserve no less. In this, I shall disappoint neither them nor you, Mr. President.

Thank You and May God Bless our beloved republic.