The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election.
Professor Mahmud Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, declared Tinubu, a former Lagos governor, the winner of the keenly contested election in the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, in Abuja.
Mr Tinubu defeated 17 other candidates who took part in the election. He scored a total of 8,794,726 votes, the highest of all the candidates, thus meeting the first constitutional requirement to be declared the winner.
He also scored over 25 per cent of the votes cast in 30 states, more than the 24 states constitutionally required.
INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, who announced the final results in the early hours of Wednesday in Abuja, said Atiku Abubakar of the PDP came second in the election.
Atiku polled a total of 6,984,520 votes in the election.
Peter Obi of the Labour Party came third in the election with a total of 6,101,533 votes while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
Mr Yakubu said a Certificate of Return for the President and Vice President will be presented by 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the National Collation Centre.
Only the top four candidates won the presidential election in at least one state. Each of Messrs. Tinubu, Atiku and Obi won in 12 states while Mr Kwankwaso won only in Kano.
However, winning a majority of states is not a requirement for a candidate to be declared the winner of the election.
Mr Tinubu won the election in Rivers, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states.
States Won by Atiku
Atiku won in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states. He also won in Osun, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states.
States Won by Peter Obi
Mr Obi won in Edo, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia and Enugu states.
Mr Kwankwaso won in only Kano State.
