Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sent a congratulatory message to Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on his victory in last Saturday’s presidential election.
The Ukrainian president took to Twitter to send compliments on Thursday, a day after Tinubu was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In tweets sighted by Africa Today News, New York, he wrote; ‘Congratulations to @officialABAT on winning the Nigerian presidential election. I look forward to close cooperation’.
‘I’m convinced that 🇺🇦-🇳🇬 bilateral interaction will be strengthened. 🇺🇦 is ready to work together to overcome global challenges, including threats to food security!’
INEC declared Tinubu the winner in the small hours of Wednesday morning.
After a hard-fought battle, 70-year-old Tinubu, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), claimed the highest number of votes — 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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Abubakar, 76, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533.
However, some Twitter users, mostly Nigerians, trolled Zelensky over his congratulatory tweet to Tinubu, while others supported the Ukrainian President.
Here are some tweets gathered by Africa Today News, New York on Twitter:
@obanojnr, ‘Nigerians are right now in grief.. please don’t add to it.. Wishing someone CONGRATULATIONS who rigged his way into power is very wrong.. so many Nigerians were injured, died in the course of last election..For this, I say CONGRATULATIONS TO RUSSIA..’
@OdinKinetic, ‘Congratulations to Putin and the Russian federation. We the citizens of Nigeria stand with you and God will always protect the people of Russia.’
@IjeleMela, ‘Corrupt people always know how to align with one another. This guy is probably very corrupt.’
@WeriseB, ‘May Putin never leave Ukraine!! Amen!’
@TheOliviaMead, ‘You will not get any money from Nigeria! Get out!’
‘Our democracy was invaded and you are congratulating the man … on behalf of Ukrainians,” @aai_austin claimed in reply.”
@valentinowpg said, ‘Mr. President you may have to do this congratulation once again in the nearest future. We know when you won your presidential election, it was the will of Ukrainians that voted for you and voted out the pro-Russian govt. Ours wasn’t the will of the people. Good luck in the war.’
‘It is now obvious that Zelenskyy has not learnt enough lessons.’
@gaiuschibueze said, ‘No wonder Russia wants to run over your country.’