Mahamat Déby, Chad’s transitional president, has been declared winner of the country’s presidential poll.

The Chadian National Election Management Agency said on Thursday that Déby won the May 6 election with over 61 percent of the votes cast, to beat Succès Masra, the incumbent prime minister and main opponent, who was said to have received 18.5 percent.

The victory allows Déby, the incumbent, to hold onto the presidency, and eliminates the chance of a runoff which would have happened had no candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes.

Déby’s victory also means his family will continue its 34-year dynasty.

Before the election results were announced, Masra announced himself winner in a Facebook broadcast.

The prime minister called on his supporters and security forces to oppose what he said was an attempt by Déby to “steal the victory from the people”.

“A small number of individuals believe they can make people believe that the election was won by the same system that has been ruling Chad for decades,” he said.

“To all Chadians who voted for change, who voted for me, I say: mobilise. Do it calmly, with a spirit of peace.”

Meanwhile, in a victory speech, the president promised to serve all Chadians — “those who voted for me and those who made other choices”.

Provisional results were expected by May 21 and the outcome by June 5.

The results of Monday’s election still have to be confirmed by the country’s Constitutional Council.

The election marks the end of the political transition in the country — from military rule to democracy.

A Nigerian tourist identified as Ilerioluwa Babalobi is attempting to set the Guinness World Record (GWR) for the ‘Fastest time to visit all African countries’ and ‘Fastest time to visit all mainland African countries’.

Babalobi, in an Instagram post, said he is aiming to visit all 54 African countries “using only public transport and without taking a single plane ride”.

The 31-year-old tourist commenced the trip on April 16. He said the journey would be completed in nine months, adding that he would spend five days in each country.

Babalobi said funds raised from the tour would be donated to the Nigerian Red Cross, a nonprofit organisation which caters to the poor.

He said the trip would also be used to promote the Borderless African Campaign advanced by a non-governmental organisation, the Africa Rising.

“More important than the record though is the fact that I get an opportunity to fulfill a long held dream of mine,” he said.

“And probably more important than even all that is an opportunity to give back to the society by fundraising for the Nigerian Red Cross throughout the trip.”

Babalobi has been to all 36 states in Nigeria, all 16 regions of Ghana as well as over a dozen African countries.

As of the time of this report, he has visited Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana.

Babalobi is now among the growing list of Nigerians who have attempted to set new world records since the beginning of 2023.

Long queues on Tuesday stretched across airports in the United Kingdom (UK) after the country’s border force system was hit by a nationwide glitch.

Pictures on social media showed enormous queues in front of the gates at Heathrow, Edinburgh, and Manchester on Tuesday evening as thousands waited for their passports to be checked.

Computer outage at Heathrow border control. A few thousand people in line and not a single person at Heathrow is able to figure out a solution. This pic is just those in front of me, about twice as many behind me. pic.twitter.com/3pDkZmkHNm

— Dheeraj Chintala (@dheerajcr) May 7, 2024

Responding to the situation, Heathrow confirmed that the border force was experiencing a nationwide issue that impacted passengers being processed through the border.

The airport apologised for the inconvenience, saying its teams were supporting border forces with their contingency plans to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

The disruption comes after border force workers staged a four-day strike at Heathrow in a dispute over working conditions last week.

The union said the workers were protesting against plans to introduce new rosters, which they claimed would see around 250 of them forced out of their jobs at passport control.

“We are aware of a technical issue affecting e-Gates across the country,” a home office spokesperson said.

“We are working closely with Border Force and affected airports to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.”