PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Malawi opposition alliance leader, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, the winner of the country’s presidential election re-run.
The alliance won the re-run five months after the first vote with 58.57 percent of the total votes as declared by the country’s electoral commission.
A statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity) on Sunday revealed that President Buhari in his congratulatory message was elated that the transition was peaceful and reflected the wishes of the people accordingly.
“Greetings from the government and people of Nigeria. I congratulate you and the alliance on your impressive victory in the elections. I look forward to working with you for the advancement of peace, security and development of the entire continent,” President Buhari stated.
Chakwera, a Pentecostal preacher, theologian and former lecturer defeated incumbent Peter Mutharika with 58.57% of votes in Tuesday’s poll.
Recall that in February, Malawi’s constitutional court annulled the presidential election conducted in May 2019 in which the incumbent President, Mr. Mutharika’s won on ground of irregularities particularly vote tampering.
Dr. Chakwera, who was sworn in on Sunday with his running mate, Saulos Chilima, as President and Vice-President respectively at a ceremony in the capital, Lilongwe said his target is to provide exemplary leadership that would move the nation forward with impact on the citizens.
“I want to provide leadership that makes everybody prosper, that deals decisively with corruption and theft of public funds and a leadership that will follow the rule of law,” he told the BBC.
“I do feel like Lazarus, I’ve come back from the dead, it’s been a long journey and we feel vindicated in a way,” he said about winning the rerun election.
“Other countries in Africa have had elections annulled – it happened in Kenya in 2017 but for the opposition candidate to then go on and win a rerun is unprecedented”, Chakwera said excitedly.