The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the All Progressive Congress presidential nominee, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the President-elect.
Tinubu, a former Lagos state governor, was declared president-elect after the 70-year-old garnered 8,794,726 votes to win the 2023 presidential election.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, announced Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner in the early hours of Wednesday at the International Collation Center in Abuja.
Tinubu won the election ahead of other candidates – the People’s Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party candidate; Peter Obi and the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The top three presidential contenders each won in 12 states, while Kwankwaso only claimed Kano State.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu ousted Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, and his closest challenger, by as many as 1.8 million votes.
According to PUNCH reports, Tinubu is running for the country’s top job for the first time in the 2023 presidential election. The former senator left office as a two-term Lagos state governor in 2007 and is credited with leading the coalition that ousted the PDP from power in 2015 and has expanded its influence beyond the southwest region in recent years.
Apart from Tinubu; Obi, Atiku, and Kwankwaso, other candidates that contested 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 Progress 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.
How Bola Ahmed Tinubu Won The Presidential Election
A tally of the votes announced by electoral officials from all 36 states and the federal capital territory, Tinubu, in Borno yielded 252,282 votes in the 27 local government districts and was declared the winner by the state collation officer, Professor Jude Rabo.
Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi only managed to garner 190,921 and 7,205 votes, respectively, while Rabiu Kwankwaso garnered 4,626 votes.
At Rivers State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu received 231,591 votes from 23 LGAs, while the LP received 175,071 votes and the PDP received 88,468 votes.
However, the Federal Capital Territory proved to be a turning point for the Labour Party, which brought down both Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his PDP counterpart, Atiku Abubakar.
Peter Obi’s popularity in Abuja earned him 281,717 votes, while the former Lagos governor and the former vice president shared the remaining spots of 90,902 and 74,149 votes respectively, Rabiu Kwankwaso also received 4,517 votes.
But Tinubu recouped losses in a few northern and middle belt states, including Zamfara, Kwara, Kogi, Benue, and Kogi states.
In Benue, the APC collected 310,468 votes to relegate the LP (308,372), PDP (130,081), and NNPP (4,740) to second, third, and fourth place respectively.
In Zamfara State, he received 298,396 votes against 1,660 for LP; 4,044 votes from the NNPP, and 193,978 votes from the PDP.
As expected, Peter Obi scored above the other candidates in Plateau, where he received 466,272 votes to APC’s 307,195; 243,808 for the PDP, while the NNPP settled for 8,869 votes.
The states won by Tinubu so 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 hand, Peter Obi won Lagos, Enugu, Cross River, Nasarawa, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Delta, and Plateau states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In the final count, APC received 8,794,726 votes, PDP received 6,984,520 votes, LP received 6,101,533 votes, and NNPP received 1,496,687 votes.
What The INEC Said
Declaring Tinubu the winner, the INEC chief said: “Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the ruling All Progressive Party (APC) who has complied with the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.
