The Federal Government has congratulated Lebanon President elect, Joseph Aoun.
Aoun scored 99 votes to take majority of the 128-seat parliament to win the presidency.
His victory brings to end the leadership vacuum created in the country since October 2022.
The acting spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, in a statement said Nigeria is looking forward to further strengthen relations with Lebanon.
He said “Nigeria looks forward to further strengthening our historic, strong, and vibrant relationship for the benefit of all our people.
“Lebanon’s parliament has elected the country’s army chief as president, ending a power vacuum that has lasted more than two years.”
Joseph Aoun’s candidacy for the mainly ceremonial role – which is reserved for a Maronite Christian under a sectarian power-sharing system – was backed by several key political parties, as well as the US, France and Saudi Arabia.
The powerful Shia Muslim militia and political party supported by Iran, Hezbollah, had sponsored a rival candidate, but withdrew on Wednesday and endorsed Aoun.
His election comes six weeks after Lebanon and Israel signed a ceasefire to end a war.
Aoun leads the Lebanese army since 2017, and has never been part of the conflict and has a key role under the ceasefire deal. It is required to deploy soldiers in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw and to ensure Hezbollah ends its armed presence there by 26 January.
Aoun told lawmakers after his election on Thursday, that “a new phase in Lebanon’s history” had begun.
The 60-year-old said he would work during his six-year term to ensure that the Lebanese state had “the exclusive right to bear arms” – a reference to Hezbollah, which had built a force considered more powerful than the army to resist Israel before their 13-month conflict, in violation of a UN Security Council resolution that ended their last war in 2006.
