For those who do not believe that power belongs to the people, today is your answer.

I stand here today as a child of circumstances threw up by many historical pull and push factors. I am a child of time and chance. At this time, I have been given the chance to retell the Nigerian story within the space of four years from today. I am bound by this obligation and it is a cause I have committed the rest of my life to achieve.

I stand here today as the face of that Nigerian child on the floating school in Makoko, Lagos who before now didn’t have the mind to aspire for great things in life but today, the same child is bouncing in the euphoria of its refreshed mind to see hope beyond the banks of the waters.

I stand here today as the face of the missing Chibok school girls and other abducted men, women and children who, unfortunately are currently in pains of confinement. My standing here today, May 29, 2015, is a message to them that we will demand for their freedom and get them out by all the available means. While they may not be in front of a TV set to listen to me and get refreshed by our collective resolve, I want to speak to them through my inner conviction: Dear abducted Nigerians, we are coming to fetch you back to hope. On this note, the Military Commanding Office is hereby moved from Abuja to Maiduguri until insurgence is crushed.

I stand here today as the advocate of the murdered Nigerians in different insurgent attacks. On behalf of Nigerians, I am pleased to inform your loved ones that we have reached a consensus to maintain peace in Nigeria by all means and preserve your lineage. We are here to defend the cause that you died for. Your death will not be in vain!

I stand here today as the hallmark of an incorruptible Nigerian – the armour I have gracefully been clothed with by the characters and values that surround my personality. I am aware of this and as a collective struggle; we will got after corruption before we are hunted down by corruption. May the events of hardship of the last three weeks in Nigeria be the last in our history.

Former President Jonathan remains a teacher of life. With the way he handled the electioneering processes up to the transition programmes, he has taught many other leaders lessons that will stay with them for a long time. I humbly welcome him to the midst of respected past leaders of our great nation.

I recognize all the past leaders of Nigeria present here today. I say a big thank you for playing your good parts in our past. Other leaders here present including leaders of thoughts, you are all warmly appreciated. Leaders from other countries present here today, I am basking in the euphoria of the goodwill Nigeria is enjoying with you. Your cooperation, partnership in nation building and friendship will be fully leveraged on to keep our collective hope alive.

Our neighbours in the Sub-region and our African brethren should be rest assured that Nigeria under our administration will be ready to play any leadership role that Africa expects of it. Here I would like to thank the governments and people of Cameroon, Chad and Niger for committing their armed forces to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria.

I also wish to assure the wider international community of our readiness to cooperate and help to combat threats of cross-border terrorism, sea piracy, refugees and boat people, financial crime, cyber crime, climate change, the spread of communicable diseases and other challenges of the 21st century.

At home we face enormous challenges. Insecurity, pervasive corruption, the hitherto unending and seemingly impossible fuel and power shortages are the immediate concerns. We are going to tackle them head on. Nigerians will not regret that they have entrusted national responsibility to us. We must not succumb to hopelessness and defeatism. We can fix our problems.

For their part the legislative arm must keep to their brief of making laws, carrying out over-sight functions and doing so expeditiously. The judicial system needs reform to cleanse itself from its immediate past. The country now expects the judiciary to act with dispatch on all cases especially on corruption, serious financial crimes or abuse of office. It is only when the three arms act constitutionally that government will be enabled to serve the country optimally and avoid the confusion all too often bedeviling governance today.

However, no matter how well organized the governments of the federation are they cannot succeed without the support, understanding and cooperation of labour unions, organized private sector, the press and civil society organizations. I appeal to employers and workers alike to unite in raising productivity so that everybody will have the opportunity to share in increased prosperity. The Nigerian press is the most vibrant in Africa. My appeal to the media today – and this includes the social media – is to exercise its considerable powers with responsibility and patriotism.

My appeal for unity is predicated on the seriousness of the legacy we are getting into. With depleted foreign reserves, falling oil prices, leakages and debts the Nigerian economy is in deep trouble and will require careful management to bring it round and to tackle the immediate challenges confronting us, namely; Boko Haram, the Niger Delta situation, the power shortages and unemployment especially among young people. For the longer term we have to improve the standards of our education. We have to look at the whole field of medicare. We have to upgrade our dilapidated physical infrastructure.

I want to have a dialogue with you, yes you as a Nigerian.

I am obliged to always strive to put Nigeria in focus on my moral compass. I have dedicated every year of my existence to this spirit. There is another spirit of Nigeria that I also know, which has transcended generations. The same spirit is still with us. It is the spirit of our allegiance to our common good. This spirit has become our internalized value and is currently shaping our character as a nation. As I look through the sea of heads here today, I am seeing Nigerians with common ties, Nigerians that will pay due diligence to civic engagements, Nigerians that will act with moderation of anger, Nigerians that will call Nigerians who are going astray to order, Nigerians that will create space to enlist other Nigerians for greater good, Nigerians that will see beyond immediate gains, Nigerians that can aspire to be anything in life for common good, Nigerians that are courageous to challenge double standards, Nigerians that will never tolerate corruption no matter how little.

Among you, you would find Mohammadu Buhari because I believe in what you believe in. I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody.

For the sake of history even though we will have to re-open close wounds, we will have to highlight where we are coming from so that we can learn not to repeat the same mistakes. Our past leaders; Mr Herbert Macauley, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Malam Aminu Kano, Chief J.S. Tarka, Mr Eyo Ita, Chief Denis Osadeby, Chief Ladoke Akintola and their colleagues worked to establish certain standards of governance. They might have differed in their methods or tactics or details, but they were united in establishing a viable and progressive country. That is the same spirit of commonality. Unfortunately, some of their successors behaved held down the country and brought disorder into governance.

This same spirit held us together through our trying times, even during the civil war. It was the spirit of our common good that saw us through the bullets of bloody and bloodless coups between 1966 to 1985, grand official corruption that has now been very elusive to address. The same spirit was with us all through the mess of policy summersaults we have had in the past, through when we glorified incompetence and we were held hostage by sheer insensitivity of our collective errors. We swam in poverty and our educational system collapsed. We lost our peace and some godless and mindless groups almost took away our sense of humanity. In all, we are still staying strong, that is the Nigerian spirit!

For those expressing fears that we will go after them, for us the past has become a prologue and we leave them to their moral conscience. We have come a long way and we have to move on with all the energies we have.

I have spent years examining Nigeria and studying its richness in the light of its challenges. Yes the challenges are killing, but my study has shown that we can solve our problems by ourselves. We need to recommit ourselves to the same common good and focus. We need to make personal pledge as Nigerians to respect our common good. We need to hold ourselves accountable, right from our homes to our street associations, to local governments, to state governments and federal government. When I say we need to hold ourselves accountable, I also mean we need to watch ourselves and make sure we are all stripped off our garment of corruption. I am committing myself to be the galvanizing arrowhead of these causes.

I want to challenge you all that the road to excellence is an unending one. We need to continually go through this path and constantly aligning ourselves to our spirit, our value – our common good.

God bless you all

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari