Buhari prepares for May 29, sets up transition council

• Gives two slots to successor • 2023 elections: FG orders closure of varsities for three weeks • Lecturers will swear to oath of neutrality, says INEC • INEC laments 1,241 pre-election suits, seeks pro bono service from NBA To demonstrate his readiness to vacate office on May 29, President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, set the ball rolling for his handover two weeks before conduct of the presidential election, when he approved the establishment of a Presidential Transition Council. It will facilitate and manage the 2023 transition programme, the sixth edition since advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999. This year’s handover ceremony will be the third time since 1999 that a transition ceremony at the Eagles Square, Abuja, will usher in an entirely new administration. Olusegun Obasanjo handed over to Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007 and Goodluck Jonathan, who became president after the demise of Yar’Adua in 2010, handed over to President Buhari in 2015. President Buhari gave two slots to his successor in the Presidential Transition Council, which will see to the smooth handover after the election of a new president. In a statement, yesterday, in Abuja, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, announced names of the members of the council, which he is to chair. Members of the council are Head of the Civil Service of the Federation; Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice; National Security Adviser; Chief of Defence Staff; Inspector-General of Police; Director General, National Intelligence Agency; Director General, State Security Services and Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. They will be joined by the Permanent Secretaries from the ministries of Defence; Interior; Finance, Budget and National Planning; Foreign Affairs; Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs; Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Information and Culture, including two representatives to be nominated by the President-elect. The Council will be inaugu