President Bola Tinubu returned to Abuja on Thursday evening from Johannesburg, South Africa where he joined other African leaders to witness the inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term of office.
President Tinubu, who arrived Abuja around 5:30pm, departed Lagos where he had been since last Friday for the Eid-el-Kabir festivities, on Wednesday for President Ramaphosa’s inauguration ceremony.
While in South Africa, besides witnessing the inauguration ceremony, President Tinubu also held closed-doors meeting with Ramaphosa when he (Ramaphosa) visited the Nigerian leader at his hotel.
During the closed-doors meeting, according to a statement by Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, both leaders identified the similarities in the challenges being faced by African countries and agreed on need to collaborate to tackle the challenges.
According to Ngelale, President Tinubu noted that President Ramaphosa’s inaugural speech captured most of the challenges faced by African countries and the need for more collaboration among leaders and citizens to provide solutions.
“I really enjoyed your speech at the ceremony. I was delighted listening to you. We have lots of issues in common, and we need to work more closely together. It was a good celebration,” Tinubu was quoted as saying.