FILE PHOTO: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari arrives to vote in the presidential election in Daura, Katsina State, Nigeria, February 23, 2019. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde/File Photo
May 29, 2019
By Paul Carsten
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in on Wednesday for a second term at the helm a country struggling with a sluggish economy and a decade-long Islamist insurgency.
The 76-year-old former military leader read out his oath but made no other immediate comments at the open air ceremony in the capital Abuja.
He took 56% of votes in February’s presidential election after promising to end violence in the northeast, extend welfare programs and kickstart growth with a program of road and rail construction.
But the fighting with the Islamist militants of Boko Haram and other groups has shown no sign of abating.
A separate surge of bandit attacks and other violence in the northwest has forced 20,000 refugees to flee to neighboring Niger, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.
(Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
