Bola Tinubu, former Lagos state governor and candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, the APC, has been declared the winner of the presidential election held on February 25th, 2023. The electoral commission, INEC, made the announcement in Abuja at exactly 4.10am on Sunday, February 26th, 2023.
Tinubu’s victory makes him Nigeria’s fifth elected president since 1999, and the 16th leader of Nigeria since independence in 1960. He won the race for the country’s top job on his first attempt, polling a total of 8,794,726 votes. This was enough to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, who polled 6,101,533 votes. Rabiu Kwankwaso, the presidential candidate of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), came a distant fourth with a total of 1,496,687 votes.
According to INEC, the registered voters for the election were 93,469,008, while 25,286,616 voters were accredited. The total valid votes were put at 24,025,940, while the total rejected votes were 939,278. The total number of votes cast was 24,965,218.
In his acceptance speech, Tinubu expressed his gratitude to voters and said he was “profoundly humbled.” He added that he represents a promise, and with the support of Nigerians, that promise will be fulfilled.
Tinubu won the election in 13 states, including Rivers, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, and Ogun states. Atiku won in 9 states, including Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa, and Taraba states, as well as Osun, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa states. Obi won in 12 states, including Edo, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia, and Enugu states. Kwankwaso won only in Kano State.
Videos from the capital Abuja showed Tinubu’s supporters cheering and celebrating the win.
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