Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari says he will return to his farm at the expiration of his presidency in 2023.
The president revealed this on Friday in Istanbul, Turkey, where he is to participating in the Third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey.
According to a statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, Buhari cut his 79th birthday cake moulded in national colours, green-white-green, to start the day, before going on to chair a planning meeting with officials in his delegation.
He, thereafter, went to the Dolmabahce Palace for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Erdogan.
According to the media aide, Buhari said he will put in his best for Nigeria until the last day when in 2023, he will hand over to a successor and return to his farm to tend to his crops and livestock.
The President was quoted as saying, “I thought that being away from Abuja, I would escape these things. The Guards Brigade had written to tell me what they wanted to do on this day. Now here you are doing this far away from home.
“I look forward to the year 2023 when I will finish, to go home to take charge of my farm. Between now and that time, I will do the best that is possible to advance the interest of the nation and its people, and carry out my duties as prescribed by the Constitution.”
Garba Shehu noted that as “he stepped out of his suite moving to the meeting room, President Buhari met a surprise lineup of the Nigerian delegation with a cake decorated in Nigeria’s national colours”.
“The group broke into a chorus, as they began chanting ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President,’” he added.
