SAN FRANCISCO, August 18, (THEWILL) – Acting President Yemi Osinbajo joined 18 other African heads of state in Kigali as Rwandan President Paul Kagame was sworn in Friday for a third term in office after a crushing election win that rights groups criticised over irregularities and voter intimidation.
A statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said Osinbajo was accompanied on the trip by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and is expected back in Abuja later on Friday.
59-year-old Kagame, was re-elected in the August 4 election with 98.79 percent of votes against two little-known candidates.
He has ruled Rwanda since 2000 and will now be president until 2024, at which time he could seek two extra five year-terms after a 2015 constitutional amendment.
After the election, the United States said it was “disturbed by irregularities” observed during voting while Human Rights Watch said the victory followed a campaign in which Rwandans were forced to donate money to the ruling party and blocked from attending opposition rallies.
“Kagame’s landslide win came as no surprise in a context in which Rwandans who have dared raise their voices or challenge the status quo have been arrested, forcibly disappeared, or killed, independent media have been muzzled, and intimidation has silenced groups working on civil rights or free speech,” said Ida Sawyer, HRW’s Central Africa director.
However, Kagame, speaking at the ceremony, which took place in front of a packed crowd in the national stadium, responded to critics who regularly highlight repression and lack of freedoms in the country.
“Every African country has to contend with efforts to force us to live on someone else’s terms,” he said.
“They demand we replace systems that are working well for us with dogmas in which their own people are rapidly losing faith.”
“Today, Rwanda defines no one as an enemy, whether domestic or foreign. Every Rwandan has a country and with every other country, we seek partnership and cooperation.”
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