The results of voter counting in Nigeria’s presidential elections show that the ruling party’s candidate, Paula Tinubu, is leading in 14 of the country’s 36 states.
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Supporters of candidate Bola Tinubu celebrate his victory in Abuja on March 1, 2023 (AFP).
Nigeria’s ruling party candidate, Bola Tinubu, won Saturday’s presidential elections in Africa’s most populous country, according to final official results released on Wednesday.
The National Election Commission said that Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressive Congress party, won 8.8 million votes, ahead of his two main rivals, Ateeq Abu Bakr, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (6.9 million votes), and Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labor Party (6.1 million votes). .
In addition to topping the results at the national level, Tinubu also won more than 25% of the votes in at least two-thirds of the country’s states (at least 24 out of 36 states), in addition to the capital Abuja region, which is a sine qua non for winning the presidency.
In a statement he made to reporters in Abuja, the head of the National Election Commission, Mahmud Yaqubo N, said, “Tinubu Bola Ahmed, from the All Progressives Congress, after he fulfilled the requirements of the law, declared his victory and election” as the president of Nigeria.
The two main opposition parties preempted the issuance of the results by calling on Tuesday for the cancellation of the elections, considering that the manipulation of the results led to a vote that was neither free nor fair nor transparent.
On Saturday, more than 87 million voters were invited to cast their ballots to choose a president from among 18 candidates.
In the four years of his term, the president faces the daunting task of reforming a country suffering from a collapsing economy and violence waged by armed groups, in addition to generalized poverty among the population.
Voting took place Saturday was generally calm, despite some security incidents and logistical problems. But delays in counting votes and the massive failure of electronic transmission of results (which is being tested for the first time at the national level) have fueled fears and accusations of fraud.
Nigeria, with a current population of 216 million, is expected to become the third largest country in the world in 2050 in terms of population.
