President Muhammadu Buhari says he is glad that the recently concluded elections in the Republic of Niger was “transparent”.
Mohamed Bazoum, candidate of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism, was declared winner of the presidential election in February, while Mahamane Ousmane, his major contender, had alleged that the exercise was marred by irregularities.
Bazoum will take over from Issoufou Mahamadou, the current Niger president, in April.
While receiving a report from Namadi Sambo, former Nigerian vice-president who was head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mission on the Niger elections, Buhari said he is glad the exercise went well.
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“Because Nigeria shares more than 1,400 kilometres of border with the Republic of Niger, we should be concerned about their stability. I am therefore glad that their elections went well. I am happy it was transparent, as attested to by most observers. We are glad for the good news,” Buhari said.
In a statement by Femi Adesina, spokesperson to the president, Sambo said he met with all the stakeholders before the polls, which resulted in a run-off, after the initial exercise in December last year was inconclusive.
According to the former vice-president, about 400 polling units in five regions of the country were observed, “and the process was peaceful, done professionally”.
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The former vice-president also described the election as “a great improvement on that of December 27 last year”, and thanked Buhari for facilitating the transportation needs of his team.
“The candidate of the ruling party was announced by the electoral body as having won more than 50% of the votes, a decision disputed by the opposition candidate, who has now approached the constitutional court for redress. It is the court which has powers to declare a winner in an election, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Niger,” Sambo was quoted to have said.
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