Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has declared the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the president-elect.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, declared Tinubu as the winner at the International Collation Centre in Abuja during the early hours of Wednesday.
Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, was declared the president-elect after polling 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu, 70, won the election ahead of other contenders — the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi; and the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The three leading presidential candidates won in 12 states each while Kwankwaso clinched only Kano State.
Tinubu edged Atiku, a former vice president and his closest challenger, with no fewer than 1.8 million votes.
This is the first time Tinubu contested for the nation’s top job, while it is his closest contender Atiku Abubakar’s sixth attempt. The former senator left office as a two-term governor of Lagos State in 2007 and is credited with leading the coalition that ousted the PDP from power in 2015 and has extended his influence beyond the South-West region in recent years.
Aside from Tinubu; Obi; Atiku, and Kwankwaso, other candidates that gunned for the presidency include Dumebi Kachikwu of the African Democratic Congress; Kola Abiola, People’s Redemption Party; Omoyele Sowore, Africa Action Congress; Adewole Adebayo, Social Democratic Party; Malik Ado-Ibrahim, Young Progressive Party; Prof Christopher Imumulen, Accord Party; Prof Peter Umeadi, All Progressives Grand Alliance; and Yusuf Mamman Dan Talle, Allied Peoples Movement.
The list also includes Hamza Al-Mustapha, Action Alliance; Sani Yusuf, Action Democratic Party; Nnnadi Osita, Action Peoples Party; Oluwafemi Adenuga, Boot Party; Osakwe Felix Johnson, National Rescue Movement; and Nwanyanwu Daniel Daberechukwu, Zenith Labour Party.
From the result released in the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, in Rivers State, Tinubu raked in 231,591 votes from 23 LGAs while the LP scored 175, 071 votes and the PDP polled 88, 468 votes.
In Borno State, Tinubu polled 252,282 votes across the 27 local government areas and was declared the winner by the state Collation Officer, Professor Jude Rabo.
Atiku and Obi could only garner 190,921 votes and 7,205, respectively while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party amassed 4,626 votes.
The Federal Capital Territory, however, proved to be a game changer for the Labour Party, which floored both Tinubu and his PDP counterpart.
Obi secured 281,717 votes in Abuja, securing his popularity in the area. Meanwhile, the former Lagos governor and the former VP received 90,902 votes and 74,149 votes respectively, with Kwankwaso receiving 4,517 votes.
Although Tinubu suffered losses in some states, he made up for them in northern and middle belt states such as Zamfara, Kwara, Kogi, Benue and Kogi, where APC won with 310,468 votes, leaving LP (308,372), PDP (130,081) and NNPP (4,740) in second, third and fourth place.
In Zamfara, Tinubu garnered 298,396 votes, while LP, NNPP, and PDP received 1,660, 4,044, and 193,978 votes respectively.
Obi, on the other hand, emerged victorious in Plateau, where he received 466,272 votes compared to APC’s 307,195 and PDP’s 243,808, while NNPP received 8,869 votes. He also won Lagos, Enugu, Cross River, Nasarawa, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Delta, Plateau states and the FCT.
Tinubu won in Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Kwara, Ekiti, Kogi, Benue, Zamfara and Jigawa, while Atiku emerged victorious in Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna, Kebbi, Bayelsa, Adamawa, and Akwa Ibom.
Declaring Tinubu the winner, the INEC boss said, “That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”