#NigeriaDecides2023: INEC Declares Bola Tinubu Nigeria’s President-Elect

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) has declared Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25th keenly contested presidential election.

Bola Tinubu Wins Nigeria’s Presidential Poll

Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu announced Bola Tinubu as the winner of the poll some minutes past 4 am on Wednesday at the National Collation Centre in Abuja, a hall packed full of journalists, party agents, and observers.

“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.

A former Lagos State Governor, Tinubu, 70, won 12 states out of Nigeria’s 36 States, and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes — 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than his closest rival — former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Abubakar, 76, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533.

Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, won the polls in 11 states, including the home state of the APC candidate — Lagos. He also came out tops in the nation’s capital Abuja. Abubakar, like Tinubu, was victorious in 12 states.

Former Kano State Governor and candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, finished fourth, claiming victory in his state — Kano. He secured 1,496,687 votes.

Professor Yakubu’s announcement, four days after the vote, brings to a climax a presidential election marred by controversy, violence, and ballot box snatching in some states of the country on February 25 during the election.

Meanwhile, Kanyi Daily reported that former president Goodluck Jonathan led the ECOWAS monitoring team on a visit to Tinubu.