The governments of the United Kingdom and United States have congratulated Asiwaju Bola Tinubu on his emergence as President-elect.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Tinubu, the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as president-elect on Wednesday.
UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak tweeted a congratulatory message hours later and tagged Tinubu’s official Twitter handle.
“Congratulations to @officialABAT on his victory in Nigeria.
“The UK-Nigeria relationship remains strong. I look forward to working together to grow our security and trade ties, opening up opportunities for businesses and creating prosperity in both our countries,” Sunak wrote.
Congratulations to @officialABAT on his victory in Nigeria.
The UK-Nigeria relationship remains strong. I look forward to working together to grow our security and trade ties, opening up opportunities for businesses and creating prosperity in both our countries.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) March 1, 2023
Spokesman of the US State Department, Ned Price said, “The United States congratulates the people of Nigeria, president-elect Tinubu and all the political leaders.
“This competitive election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.”
According to INEC, Tinubu got 8,794,726 votes, which is the highest of all the candidates, while his closest challengers, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) got 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes respectively.
However, the opposition alleged widespread irregularities in the polls while vowing to challenge the outcome in the courts.
The US government acknowledged the frustration about the outcome of the polls.
“We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted,” Price said.
“Nigerians are clearly within their rights to have such concerns and should have high expectations for their electoral process,” Price said, urging political leaders to register their concerns through established legal “mechanisms.”
Nigerian officials had hoped new biometric voter identification technology would make the election the cleanest yet, but malfunctions, long delays and slow results have fueled the accusations of fraud.
“We call on all parties to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time,” Price said.
Leave a Reply