By Damola Emmanuel
As reported exclusively by The Crest, today’s inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari for second term in office has gone down as the shortest in recent Nigerian history.
The ceremony took off when the president and his entourage arrived The Eagle Square, Abuja, venue of the auspicious occasion, at 10 a.m.
At exactly, 10.23a.m., Professor Yemi Osinbajo, accompanied by his delectable wife, Dolapo, was invited to the podium to take his oath office and allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The oath taking spanned only seven minutes, after which he signed the legal document to be Nigeria’s VP for the next four years. It ended at 10.34 a.m.
At 10.36a.m., President Muhammadu Buhari, was invited to the podium to take his turn. He was accompanied by the First Lady, Aisha, as he began to take his oath of allegiance at 10.37a.m. It took two minutes after which the oath of office began.
At 10.42 a.m., the exercise ended. It spanned only five minutes, after which he sat to sign the lines. By 10. 46 a.m., he was done. And thus Buhari began his second and final tenure as President.
By 10.49 a.m., the lowering of both the national and defence flags began, with the President standing at attention, ramrod, reminiscent of his military days.
The flag lowering ceremony took two minutes, ending at 10.51a.m., signifying the end of an era.
At 10.55a.m., the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Gabriel Olonisakin, handed the lowered flags to President Buhari, who, in turn, gave him brand new national and defence flags to be hoisted. This marked the commencement of the new dispensation.
Everyone at the venue stood to honour the nation as the two new flags were being hoisted. At exactly 11.00 a.m., the new flags began to fluff in the cool Abuja breeze. The heavens poured plenty water Tuesday night in the Federal Capital.
Then, the guns began to boom at 11.02 a.m. They boomed 21 times, reverberated throughout the nation’s capital, ending three minutes later. It was followed by march past and parade by the troops. There were 208 officers and men of the armed forces and the Nigeria Police Force on the parade.
At 11.10 a.m., Buhari accompanied by the Commander, Brigade of Guards, mounted the military jeep, decorated in national colours to inspect the parade. The inspection took eight minutes. Again, the arena stood still for the national anthem at11.20, signalling the end of the ceremony a minute later.
In all, the whole event took precisely one hour, 23 minutes.
This was in sync with the President’s promise to make the second term inauguration low key.
There no foreign Heads of State in the arena, and no flowery speeches. All these are reserved for the first celebration of Democracy Day on June 12, 2019.
