After a keenly contested election held across the 36 states of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Bola Tinubu has been declared the winner of the 2023 Presidential Election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, announced Tinubu as the President-elect on Wednesday morning at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, News About Nigeria reports.
A total of 18 presidential candidates contested in the election, which was marred by violence, logistical problems, theft of BVAS, and other issues, leading to the postponement of voting till Sunday in some polling units in different states.
However, after collation at state INEC collation centres, the election results were presented by state collation officers for the presidential election (SCOPs) before the INEC chairman at the National Collation Centre.
Mahmood announced that Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the election with the majority of votes cast in 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT.
The APC candidate polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat his fellow contenders, including Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 6,984,520 votes, Labour Party’s Peter Obi with 6,101,533 votes to come third, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) with 1,496,687 votes.
Of the 36 states and FCT, Tinubu, Obi, and Atiku won 12 states each, while Kwankwaso won only Kano State. The 12 states won by Tinubu are Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Jigawa, Ondo, Kogi, and Niger State. Atiku of the PDP won Taraba, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe, Bayelsa, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe, and Katsina. Obi won the following states: Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Delta, Edo, FCT, Plateau, Nasarawa, Lagos, and Cross River.
