President Muhammadu Buhari, in a message to mark his 79th birthday, said he would return home to tend his farm after completing his term in 2023.
The Nigerian president owns a ranch in his hometown, Daura, in Katsina state, northwestern Nigeria.
“I look forward to 2023 when my term ends, to go home and take over my farm,” Buhari said Friday at a facebook post where he talked about how he celebrated his birthday.
Mr. Buhari is currently in Istanbul, Turkey, for the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the Republic of Turkey.
He left Abuja for Turkey on Thursday.
The president cut a birthday cake “molded in the national colors, green-white-green” on Friday morning, according to a statement issued by the presidency.
From there, he “went directly to chair a planning meeting with officials from his delegation and then went to the Dolmabahce Palace to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Recep Erdogan.”
“I had thought that being away from Abuja, I would escape a celebration. The Guards Brigade had written to tell me what they wanted to do that day. Now here we are, far away in Turkey, and I still haven’t escaped, ”Buhari said in the Facebook post, which appears to be a response he gave at the celebration organized for him in Istanbul.
“Between now and then, I will do my best to advance the interests of the nation and its people, and I will fulfill my duties as prescribed by the Constitution.
“I thank Almighty God for this day. Now the work continues ”, he added.
Buhari, a retired Major General in the Nigerian Army, defeated President-in-Office Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 to become President of Nigeria. He won re-election in 2019 under the platform of the Congress of All Progressives.
His administration, however, has been plagued by serious security challenges, including the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast of the country, Biafra upheaval in the southeast, and ransom kidnapping and incessant killing in various parts of the country.
An aide to the governor of Akwa Ibom state in 2017 mocked Buhari’s love for his cows, saying that the president’s cattle fared better than Nigerians.
“Today we are in an administration in which cows do better than human beings. If the cost of pasture increased, or if someone moderated with the comfort of these cows, I am sure that Baba would come back and take urgent action, ”said Deputy Governor Essien Ndueso in a Facebook post, with photos. of Mr. Buhari’s visit to his ranch in Daura.
“Today the fuel is N180 and those who earn their monthly salary for worshiping Baba on Facebook are also suffering the same fate,” he had said.