President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi has died after suffering a heart failure, it emerged on Tuesday.
The government of the central African nation announced this in a statement posted on Twitter, saying the President was admitted to hospital on Saturday after falling ill.
His condition then improved but had a heart failure on Monday which led to his death despite efforts to revive him.
The Government of the Republic of Burundi announces with great sadness the unexpected death of His Excellency Pierre Nkurunziza, President of the Republic of Burundi, following heart failure on June 8, 2020.
The 55-year-old dictator recently agreed to step down from his 15-year rule characterized by brutal crackdowns, wars leaving many citizens displaced and economic stagnation.
His chosen successor won in a Presidential election last month that was marred by irregularities.
According to the country’s constitution, the president of the legislature should take control of the government until the inauguration of Évariste Ndayishimiye, scheduled for August 20, who won the election.
Nkurunziza’s wife, Denise, was airlifted to Nairobi 10 days ago and is being treated for symptoms of the novel coronavirus, according to Kenyan media reports.
Local media in Burundi and Kenya have however alleged that the President was also hospitalized after contracting coronavirus.
Health officials in both countries have not directly addressed the speculations.
The late president before his death constantly denied the existence of coronavirus in the country, disregarding all measures WHO recommended to check the spread of the disease.
He even approved the presidential election in May.
Nkurunziza’s spokesman, Jean-Claude Karerwa Ndenzako, before the election held told BBC;
So far, we believe that the situation is looking good. Finally, as we keep repeating, Burundi is an exception among other nations, because it is a country that gave God first place, a God who guards and protects him from all misfortune.
It is not the first time that the world has been hit by a calamity, but, each time, Burundi has been spared. We have faith in our God, especially now that in our country we have put God first, he will protect us from all calamity.
Millions of citizens are feared to have been exposed to the disease in the course of the elections as safety measures including social distancing and wearing of face masks were disregarded in the process.
As at press time, the country has a total number of 83 confirmed coronavirus cases, 45 recovered patients and one death.
