The international community has congratulated Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, after he was declared winner of the presidential election held on Saturday.
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu presented the Certificate of Return to Tinubu in Abuja on Wednesday, having won at the polls with 8.8 million votes.
Meanwhile, the main opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, secured 6.9 million and 6.1 million votes, respectively.
The United States
The United States on Wednesday, through its State Department spokesman, Ned Price congratulated Nigeria on the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
According to the statement by Ned Price, the emergence of Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressive Congress and other political leaders is a new period for the country’s democracy.
“The United States congratulates the people of Nigeria, president-elect Tinubu and all the political leaders,” he said.
“This competitive election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy,” he added.
Ned Price acknowledged the discontent among some Nigerians over the validity of the results, as at least one opposition figure has promised to dispute the outcome.
“We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted,” he said.
He urged political leaders to register their concerns through established legal mechanisms and called on all parties to refrain from violence or inflammatory rhetoric amid accusations of voter fraud and technical glitches.
“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.
The United Kingdom
Also, the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, yesterday, congratulated Tinubu on election victory via Twitter.
“Congratulations to Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his victory in Nigeria,” Sunak tweeted Wednesday.
Sunak affirmed that, “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.”
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
France
In the same vein, President Emmanuel Macron of France congratulated the former Lagos state governor on his victory at the polls.
Tinubu made this known while fielding questions from journalists after the presentation of his Certificate of Return.
He said he has received many congratulatory messages within and outside Nigeria, mentioning the French President as one of them.
”Oh very many, many of those, in fact as far as Europe, the stock market reacted positively well, there was a goodwill message from Macron, the President of France,” Tinubu said.
