[Photos] Buhari celebrates 79th birthday in Turkey, promises to retire to his farm after handover in 2023

President Muhammadu Buhari cut a birthday cake moulded in national colours to start the day on his 79th birthday, Garba Shehu said.

After cutting the cake, the President’s spokesman said his principal went straight to chair a planning meeting with officials in his delegation and, thereafter, drove to the Dolmabahce Palace for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Recep Erdogan.

In response to the tributes, President Buhari said he would put in his best for Nigeria until the last day when in 2023 he hands over to a successor and returns to his farm to tender crops and livestock.

“I thought that being away from Abuja I will escape these things,” he was quoted as saying in a statement on Friday by his spokesman. “The Guards Brigade had written to tell me what they wanted to do on this day. Now here you are doing this far away from home.

“I look forward to the year 2023 when I finish, to go home to take charge of my farm. Between now and that time, I will do the best that is possible to advance the interest of the nation and its people and carry out my duties as prescribed by the Constitution.”

As he stepped out of his suite moving to the meeting room, Shehu said the President met a surprise line-up of the Nigerian delegation with a cake decorated in the country’s national colours.

The group broke into a chorus, as they began chanting “Happy Birthday, Mr President.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and the Ambassador of Nigeria to Turkey, Ismail Abba, spoke on behalf of the delegation.

They congratulated the President on the work he was doing for Nigeria and wished him a happy birthday, many healthy years ahead, and the energy to give his best to the nation.

Onyeama noted, in particular, that President Buhari has continued to have a good run with his health, getting better and more active with time.