Nigerian President-elect Bola Tinubu on Wednesday afternoon left Nigeria for Europe for a trip described as a working visit and part of final preparations for his assumption of office scheduled on May 29, reported The BBC.
In a statement released on Wednesday, his spokesperson Tunde Rahman said Mr. Tinubu will use the opportunity of the trip to fine-tune the transition plans and programs, as well as his policy options without unnecessary pressures and distractions.
He said during the visit, the Nigerian president-elect will also have meetings with investors and other key allies hoping to convince them that Nigeria is all set to do business with them under his leadership.
His aide said that Tinubu is scheduled to return shortly for preparations for his official swearing-in ceremony later this month.
This is the second time that the president-elect will be traveling out of the country since he was declared the winner of the presidential elections in March. He returned to Nigeria on 24 April after a four-week vacation in France.
Nigeria’s election commission declared Tinubu the winner of the election in a televised broadcast after he garnered 37% of the votes. But the two main opposition candidates rejected the results alleging that results from 177,000 polling stations were tampered with.
The opposition claims that the elections were marred with irregularities, including violence at the polls and logistical and procedural shortcomings, including the inability to upload election results from polling units in real-time.
On Monday, the Nigerian presidential tribunal at the Court of Appeal in Abuja heard statements of lawyers representing opposition parties, which are challenging the outcome of the February vote won by Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
In related news, the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari extended his London trip for dental treatment after he attended the King’s coronation last week.
