…..says victory good for Africa’s democracy.
By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus has congratulated the Zambian opposition leader, Hakainde Hichilema on his deserving victory at the nation’s Presidential election.
The opposition leader Hichilema was pronounced winner by the country’s Electoral body after landslide victory with over a million votes more than the incumbent President Edgar Lungu.
Hichilema got his victory on the sixth attempt having presented himself in five previous Presidential elections in the country.
Reacting to Hichilema’s victory through a statement from his media office released on Monday in Abuja, Prince Secondus, the leader of the main opposition party in Nigeria said that ‘it’s a sweet victory that will help to deepen democracy in Africa.’
Prince Secondus praised the Zambian Electoral Commission and the security agencies in the country for allowing the will of the people to prevail.
He also commended the rare democratic posture of the defeated President in accepting defeat and promising a seamless transition to the opposition.
“This is how it should be, PDP did it in Nigeria in 2015 and stabilized our democracy” he said.
The PDP leader noted that what differentiates African democracy and the rest of the World is in the conduct of elections pointing that once African countries start getting it right, sky will be their limit.
Finally, Prince Secondus called on other Africa countries to take a queue from the good news coming out of Zambian democracy.
While announcing the result, the electoral commission said Hichilema got 2,810,777 votes against Lungu’s 1,814,201, with all but one of the 156 constituencies counted.
Hichilema, 59, a former CEO at an accounting firm before entering politics, now faces the task of trying to revive Zambia’s fortunes. The economy has been buoyed only slightly by more favourable copper prices – now hovering around decade highs, driven partly by the boom in electric cars.END
