The Independent National Electoral Commission has certified the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the president-elect.
Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos State, was named president-elect after receiving 8,794,726 votes in the 2023 presidential election.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of INEC, proclaimed Tinubu as the winner in the early hours of Wednesday at the International Collation Centre in Abuja.
Tinubu defeated other candidates, including the Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar, the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The three major presidential contenders each won 12 states, while Kwankwaso won only Kano.
Tinubu defeated Atiku, a former vice president and his closest rival, with 1.8 million votes.
According to HOWAFRICA, Tinubu would be running for President of Nigeria for the first time in 2023. The former senator departed government 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. In recent years, he has expanded his influence outside the South-West area.
Aside from Tinubu; Obi; Atiku, and Kwankwaso, other candidates that gunned for the nation’s oval office 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.
Tinubu received 252,282 votes across 27 local government areas in Borno, according to a tally of ballots announced by election officials from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and was proclaimed the winner by the state Collation Officer, Prof. Jude Rabo.
Atiku and Obi received only 190,921 and 7,205 votes, respectively, while Kwankwaso received 4,626 votes.
Tinubu received 231,591 votes from 23 LGAs in Rivers State, while the LP received 175, 071 votes and the PDP received 88, 468 votes.
The Federal Capital Territory, on the other hand, proved to be a game changer for the Labour Party, taking both Tinubu and his PDP opponent by surprise.
Obi’s popularity in Abuja earned him 281,717 votes, while the former Lagos governor and former Vice President received 90,902 and 74,149 votes, respectively. Kwankwaso received 4,517 votes as well.
Tinubu, on the other hand, made up for his losses in northern and middle belt states such as Zamfara, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, and Kogi.
In Benue, the APC accumulated 310,468 votes to relegate LP (308,372), PDP (130,081) and NNPP (4,740) to second, third and fourth positions.
In Zamfara State, he received 298,396 votes to the LP’s 1,660 votes, the NNPP’s 4,044 votes, and the PDP’s 193,978 votes.
Obi easily defeated other contenders in Plateau, where he received 466,272 votes to the APC’s 307,195, the PDP’s 243,808, and the NNPP’s 8,869 votes.
Tinubu has won Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Kwara, Ekiti, Kogi, Benue, Zamfara, and Jigawa thus far, while Atiku has won Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna, Kebbi, Bayelsa, Adamawa, and Akwa Ibom.
Obi, on the other side, has won the states of Lagos, Enugu, Cross River, Nasarawa, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Delta, and Plateau, as well as the FCT.
In the final computation, APC polled 8,794,726 votes, PDP amassed 6,984,520 votes, LP scored 6,101,533 votes and NNPP garnered 1,496,687 votes.
Declaring Tinubu as 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.”