The Independent National Electoral Commission has certified the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as the president-elect.
Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, was named the president-elect after the 70-year-old garnered 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.
The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, proclaimed Tinubu as the winner at the International Collation Centre in Abuja during the early hours of Wednesday.
Tinubu won the election ahead of other rivals — the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi; and the New Nigeria Peoples Party nominee, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The three major presidential candidates won in 12 states each but Kwankwaso secured just Kano State.
Tinubu edged Atiku, a former vice president and his closest competitor, with no less than 1.8 million votes.
It was added that the 2023 presidential election is the first time that Tinubu fought for the nation’s top post. The former senator departed government as a two-term governor of Lagos State in 2007 and is credited with spearheading the alliance that removed the PDP from power in 2015 and has expanded his influence outside the South-West area in recent years.
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.
A total of the votes released by election authorities from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Tinubu, in Borno, collected 252,282 votes throughout the 27 local government areas and was proclaimed the winner by the state Collation Officer, Prof. Jude Rabo.
Atiku and Obi could only gather 190,921 votes and 7,205, respectively while Kwankwaso got 4,626 votes.
In Rivers State, Tinubu hauled in 231,591 votes from 23 LGAs while the LP got 175, 071 votes and the PDP collected 88, 468 votes.
The Federal Capital Territory, however, proved to be a game changer for the Labour Party, which rocked both Tinubu and his PDP rival.
Obi’s popularity in Abuja brought him 281,717 votes while the former Lagos governor and the former VP split the remaining slots of 90,902 votes and 74,149 respectively. Kwankwaso also polled 4,517 votes.
Yet Tinubu made up for his losses in certain northern and middle belt areas which included Zamfara, Kwara, Kogi, Benue and Kogi States.
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 polled 298,396 votes versus LP’s 1,660; NNPP’s 4,044 and the PDP’s 193,978 votes.
As predicted, Obi soared above other contenders in Plateau where he won by 466,272 votes compared to APC’s 307,195; PDP’s 243,808 while NNPP settled for 8,869 votes.
The states gained by Tinubu thus far include 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.
On the other side, Obi has won Lagos, Enugu, Cross River, Nasarawa, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Delta and Plateau states as well as the FCT.
In the final calculation, APC polled 8,794,726 votes, PDP gathered 6,984,520 votes, LP scored 6,101,533 votes and NNPP received 1,496,687 votes.
Announcing Tinubu as the winner, the INEC chairman stated, “Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having met the conditions of the law is thus proclaimed the winner and returned elected.” can you see
