President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated President Roch Marc Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso on his re-election for a five-year second term in office, urging him to unite the country.
The President’s spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in a statement in Abuja on Friday, quoted the Nigerian leader while welcoming Kabore’s victory on Friday, to have said:
“I am pleased with the peaceful outcome of the election in which the voters of Burkina Faso renewed your mandate for another five years in office.”
“Winning a second term is a vote of confidence, but it also brings bigger challenges for leaders to work even harder to make life better for their citizens.”
Buhari also advised the re-elected Burkinabe leader to put partisanship aside and work for all Burkinabes, regardless of who voted for or against him.
He added that “at this point, you’re no longer the leader of your party but the leader of Burkina Faso.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Burkina Faso’s Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) had on Thursday announced that President Kabore gained a large outright majority in the first round of Sunday’s presidential election.
CENI stated that Kabore scored 57.87 percent of the total votes cast in the first round of the exercise to defeat 13 other candidates including Eddie Komboigo, who came second with 15.48 percent of the ballot.
