What is Defense House and why does president-elect move there after election?

On April 26, 2023, the Director of Bola Tinubu’s Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, announced in a video posted on Twitter that the President-elect and his Vice, Kashim Shettima, had moved to the Defense House ahead of the May 29, 2023, presidential inauguration.

“President-elect Bola Tinubu with VP-elect Kashim Shettima moves to Defense House, his official residence pre-inauguration 29 May,” he said.

This move into the Defense House in Abuja came two days after he returned to the country from a four-week vacation in France.

The Defense House is a highly secured residence in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, where a President-elect is expected by tradition to move pending inauguration. The Defense House is located in Maitama, Abuja, about 6.7 km from the Presidential Villa.

A Nigerian President is the most secured person in the country, and elected Presidents are expected to be guarded in case of any innate attack on their lives. With rising insecurity in Nigeria, it is not surprising that a President-elect can be attacked.

With plans ahead of May 29 in full swing, Tinubu is expected to begin consultations for people who will make up his cabinet. It is at the Defense House that Tinubu will receive dignitaries, party stakeholders, as well as foreign dignitaries who wish to visit the President-elect.

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The move to the Defense House for incoming Presidents has become a tradition because it provides a highly secure and controlled environment that enables the President-elect to focus on preparing for their inauguration and subsequent assumption of office without fear of any security threat.

In 2015, after Muhammadu Buhari defeated the then-incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, he moved to Defense House, where he received high-profile delegates, including Sanusi Sanusi, Senator David Mark, Olusegun Obasanjo, and foreign dignitaries. However, for re-elected Presidents who are already living in the Presidential Villa, Aso Rock, there is no need to move to the Defense House.

Tinubu was declared the winner of the February 25, 2023, election by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, and when sworn in on May 29, will become Nigeria’s 16th President.