In a highly disputed general election, Bola Tinubu of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) party was declared President of Africa’s most populous democracy.
Tinibu garnered 8.8 million votes against 6.9 million of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar. Peter Obi, another candidate popular with Nigeria’s young voters garnered 6.1 million votes.
According to AFP, Tinubu secured 25 percent of votes in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and capital, a must hit before one is constitutionally declared President.
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Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to declare Tinubu President, today, on Wednesday, March 1.
70-year-old Tinubu served as the governor of Lagos, Nigeria’s Capital for 8 years from 1999 to 2007. His campaign slogan read, “It’s my turn” to govern Africa’s largest economy.
The election was a tight race for the first time since Nigeria ended military rule in 1999, after Obi, 61, drew younger voters with his message of change.
Nearly 90 million Nigerians were eligible to vote, with almost 10 million of them new voters, many under the age of 34, who wanted a chance to have a say in a change for Nigeria.
The opposition rejected Tinibu’s victory stating that the election was flawed and called for the resignation of INEC’s chair Mahmood Yakubu because of the technical difficulties during the electoral process after introduction of the innovative technology in voting.
In an official statement, the opposition in a joint statement said: “the results being declared at the National Collation centre have been heavily doctored and manipulated and do not reflect the wishes of Nigerians expressed at the polls.”
