Muhammadu Buhari sworn in as Nigeria’s new president amid tight security

Nigeria’s new president has been sworn in during a boisterous ceremony in the country’s capital amid tight security measures, vowing to bring “increased prosperity” to the country.

Muhammadu Buhari, a former military leader and the first candidate to defeat an incumbent president at polls since Nigeria gained independence in 1960, took over as elected head of state at a large ceremony held in Eagle Square in Abuja on Friday morning.

Buhari, a 72-year-old member of All Progressives Congress (APC) party, had defeated Goodluck Jonathan at the March 28 presidential election by 15.4 million votes to 12.9 million. Fifty-seven-year-old Jonathan, who had been in office since 2010, publicly conceded defeat in March 31.

“I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody… I intend to serve as president to all Nigerians,” said Buhari, the first opposition figure to win a presidential election in the African country.

He also vowed to tackle the “enormous challenges” of corruption and the insurgency from Takfiri group Boko Haram “head on,” adding, “Nigerians will not regret that they have entrusted national responsibility to us.”

“Boko Haram is a mindless, godless group, who are as far away from Islam as one can think,” he further added, reiterating his vows to launch an intense campaign against the terrorist group.

He maintained that one cannot say the Takfiri group is defeated without saving nearly 220 Chibok girls captured by the group last April. “This government will do all it can to rescue them alive.”

He accused Jonathan, his predecessor, of setbacks in the fight against Boko Haram.

Buhari, who briefly ruled as a military ruler in the early 1980s, declared himself as a “born-again democrat” at the sworn-in ceremony.

He also shook hands with Shehu Shagari, the elected president he ousted in a 1983 coup, and Ibrahim Babangida, the general who deposed him a year and a half later.

High-level representative from around 30 countries, mostly African, attended the ceremony.

Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden,” controls parts of northeastern Nigeria. Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria are the four African countries that have been directly affected by the growing threat of Boko Haram in recent months.

The terror group says its goal is to overthrow the Nigerian government. It has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of the country since the beginning of its militancy in 2009, which has so far left about 15,000 people dead and displaced about 1.5 million others.

In the latest brutality by the machete-wielding militants, they killed 10 people in Pambula-Kwamda village in northeastern Nigeria on May 25.

The group has also pledged allegiance to the fellow Takfiri terrorist group ISIL, which currently controls parts of Iraq and Syria.

RS/AS/MHB

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