The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been declared winner of Nigeria’s most intensely contested and important presidential election.
INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu declared the former Lagos Governor the winner in a packed room of journalists, party agents, and observers at the National Collation Centre in Abuja on Wednesday at just after 4 a.m.
“That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Professor Yakubu declared in an announcement watched by an eager nation and many across the world.
With victories in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states and considerable support in several others, Tinubu, 70, received 8,794,726 votes, over two million more than former vice president and Peoples Democratic Party candidate Atiku Abubakar (PDP).
Abubakar, 76, who has already campaigned for president six times, received 6,984,520 votes, while Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), who in less than a year galvanized youthful voters in a way that some have called unprecedented, came in second with 6,101,533, received 6,101,533 votes.
Former Anambra State governor Obi won the election in 11 states, including Lagos, the APC candidate’s home state. Also, he won in Abuja, the nation’s capital. Similar to Tinubu, Abubakar won in 12 states.
Rabiu Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State and NNPP candidate, came in fourth place overall and won his home state of Kano. 1,496,687 people voted for him.
A presidential election plagued by controversy, bloodshed, and ballot box snatching in several areas of the nation on February 25 comes to a close with Professor Yakubu’s pronouncement four days after the vote.