Akufo-Addo confers with Nigeria’s Buhari
The 2016 Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has paid a courtesy call on Nigeria’s President-elect, Gen. Mahamudu Buhari, at his office in the Federal capital, Abuja.
Advertisement
The leader of the country’s biggest opposition party met with the incoming President of West Africa’s most populous nation to cement bilateral ties.
At the meeting, the three-time presidential candidate of the NPP congratulated Gen. Buhari on his historic victory, having become the first opposition leader to defeat an incumbent president in Nigeria.
Accompanying Nana Akufo-Addo were Alhaji Rashid Bawa, Ghana's former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Saratu Atta, Akufo-Addo's Executive Assistant.
Earlier, Nana Akufo-Addo had issued a statement to congratulate the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader on unseating Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan.
“I join well-wishers in the rest of Africa and across the world to extend warm congratulations to the APC Presidential Candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, on his decisive victory in the March 28, 29 Nigerian presidential election, thus becoming the next President of the Federal Republic,” the statement pointed out.
According to the statement, “Through the peaceful exercise of their sovereign and democratic right to elect their own leaders, the people of Nigeria have strengthened the frontiers of democracy for all other African countries to emulate.”
Furthermore, it stated: “This is the first time, in Nigeria’s history, that one democratically elected government has been voted out for another, and that a sitting President has been rejected at the polls. This change, after 16 years of the Fourth Republic, should go a long way towards enhancing the quality of competitive governance in Nigeria. It has reinforced the democratic notion that the people have the power to change governments.”
Other Trending Stories
It also stated that President Jonathan was to be commended for graciously conceding defeat, thereby laying to rest any lingering suspicion and anxiety about the fate of Nigeria in the aftermath of the elections.
“By their exemplary conduct, both outgoing President Jonathan and his successor have reinforced the resilience of Nigeria's democracy, and demonstrated to the entire world that politics in Africa can be positively competitive, when conducted on the basis of time-honoured principles of transparency, fairness and equal opportunity.
“I hope that the determination and perseverance shown over the years by General Buhari, evident in this victory, which is his fourth attempt at the Presidency, will result in him bringing his wealth of experience, as a military ruler and subsequently as an acknowledged democrat, to the fore in delivering unity, security, progress and prosperity to the Nigerian people,” the statement concluded.