Immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari has thanked his successor Bola Ahmed Tinubu for renovating the General’s home in Kaduna.
In a statement signed by Buhari’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, on Wednesday, April 9, he explained that while the building looked very much the same externally, so much improvement was made inside.
Shehu wrote against the backdrop of visits made by governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the former President reiterated his call for continued dedication to the nation’s progress.
The former president also said leaders should accord importance to the welfare of the people, not themselves, offering his personal example of leaving office with the same physical assets he had before his presidency.
Speaking further, Buhari thanked the governors for the visit, saying that while he had worked with several of them, some others were new to him.
The Chairman of the PGF, Imo state Governor Hope Uzodinma said that their visit was to greet the former president on the occasion of the Eid-el-Fitr, and “convey our heart-felt expression of gratitude and enduring respect for your immense contributions to Nigeria’s democracy and strengthening our party.
“Many of us recall with pride the principled role you played in the founding of the APC. That legacy continues to shape our party’s identity direction.”
Buhari earlier this year relocated to his known residence on Sultan Lane, GRA, Kaduna.
The first house on the left of the street belongs to the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and is being guarded by soldiers.
Since Buhari exited the Presidential Villa in Abuja on May 29, 2023, he had been in his country home in Daura, Katsina State until the recent move, back to the Kaduna house where Buhari resided prior to his swearing in as President on May 29, 2015.
The house, a duplex complex, used to be a modest edifice said to have been built when he was serving as a senior officer in the Army and years before he became Head of State in 1983.
He maintains that he has just three houses, two in Kaduna; one, which he was occupying before he became President, and another, which he said he had put up for rent.
The third one is his country home in Daura.
Buhari had said that on leaving office, he would be returning to Daura instead of Kaduna to stay away as far as possible from the seat of power in Abuja.
Sources said it was while he was in Daura that the Kaduna house was “reconstructed completely,” befitting his status as a former military Head of State and later, President.
Soldiers and policemen were seen stationed at the entrance gate, along with plain clothes security personnel believed to be undercover operatives maintaining vigilance.
