The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak congratulated Bola Ahmed Tinubu after INEC declared him the winner of the 2023 Presidential elections.
He disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday evening, citing that his government looks forward to working with Tinubu.
Also, the United Nation revealed it was not an observer at the elections, and urged for the stability of the country, calling on candidates to use existing legal and constitutional channels to challenge the results.
Security and Trade: Sunak noted that the UK-Nigeria relationship remains strong and he looks forward to growing trade ties with Nigeria, he said:
- “Congratulations to Bola Ahmed Tinubu 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.”
Strong Democratic Institutions: The UN Spokesperson, Stephanie Dujarric said that Nigeria has a very strong and proud democratic history of peaceful transition of power in recent years and urged opposition candidates to challenge the decision legally, he said:
- “Yes, I mentioned to you earlier, that United National Development Programme (UNDP), offered technical support to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). We are not an observer of these elections.
- “It is not for the UN to say Yes or No on how the elections were run. I think Nigeria has a very strong and proud democratic history of peaceful transition of power in recent years. There is a process ongoing.
- “It is important at this point in any election, in any country, and we’ve seen it in the North, we’ve seen it in the South and East and West, we’ve seen issues of great tension following elections when people didn’t accept the results.
- “It is important that all stakeholders work for the better, for the stability of the country and use existing legal and constitutional channels to challenge if they so wish, any election results.”
UN added it supported Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) mainly through United National Development Programme (UNDP), to improve the process and use of technology in preparing for and managing the election.
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.
Tinubu won with a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his major rivals; Atiku Abubakar of the People Democratic Party (PDP) who garnered 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party who secured 6,101,533 votes of the 24,965,218 total votes cast.
