The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election.
The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced the former Lagos governor’s victory, in the early hours of Wednesday.
Professor Yakubu made the announcement at the National Collation Centre in Abuja, a hall packed with journalists, party agents and observers.
Tinubu won the election with 8,794,726 votes, clinging the presidential position with almost two million votes ahead of the closest running mate.
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Announcing the result, the chairman of INEC said: “Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected”.
That statement put to rest, days of watching and counting figures that have put many Nigerians, home and abroad, at the edge of their seats.
With that, Tinubu, 70, becomes elected as Nigeria’s next president after President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tinubu won 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, the same amount of states won by the former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who is 76 years old. Atiku is the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He polled 6,984,520 votes.
On the other hand, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who made remarkable in-roads into the polity in 2023 election, garnered 6,101,533.
He won 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory.