Theresa May sends Buhari congratulatory message as UK says it accepts elections results

BRITISH prime minister Theresa May has joined the growing list of global leaders to congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari over his recent election saying she looks forward to building on the relationship between the two countries.

Last Saturday, President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected for a second term after beating former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with almost 4m votes. Following the collation of the results from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), President Buhari was declared the winner with 15,084,862 votes, compared with 11,262,978 for Alhaji Abubakar.

Yesterday, Inec chairman Professor Mahmoud Yakubu handed President Buhari and vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo their certificates of return. Following their re-election, messages of congratulations have been pouring in and Mrs May has added her voice to the list, saying she looks forward to having a continued good relationship with Nigeria.

Mrs May said: “Congratulations Buhari, I witnessed first-hand the importance of the UK-Nigeria relationship during my trip last year. I look forward to continuing our close partnership and strengthening our shared prosperity and security.”

Harriett Baldwin, the UK's minister of state for Africa, added: "I offer my congratulations to President Buhari on securing a second term as the Nigerian president. The UK is a long-standing friend and partner of Nigeria and the Nigerian people and a stable and prosperous Nigeria benefits Africa and the world.

"The Nigerian people have demonstrated resilience and a commitment to democracy and the result declared by the Nigerian election commission is consistent with the result obtained through the civil society parallel vote tabulation process. Along with our international partners, the UK believes the Nigerian people can have confidence in the result.

"However, we also recognise that independent Nigerian voices have expressed concerns about the conduct of the electoral process, in particular logistics and results collation and reports of intimidation of election officials. We urge any party or individual who wishes to challenge the process to do so peacefully and through the appropriate legal channel and we encourage Nigerian authorities to examine all allegations of wrongdoing carefully and take the necessary action against individuals found responsible.

"My thoughts are also with the families and friends of those who lost their lives in election-related violence. No one should die in the exercise of their democratic rights. We will continue to support Nigeria and its civil society in drawing lessons from these elections and strengthening its democracy."