After a weekend election that the major opposition parties have contested, Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling party in Nigeria, was proclaimed the winner as president of Africa’s most populous country in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Former Lagos state governor Tinubu will assume the presidency of a nation that is battling Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, armed attacks, killings, and kidnappings, conflict between farmers and livestock herders, shortages of cash, fuel, and power, and enduring corruption that Buhari’s party, according to critics, has failed to eradicate despite promises to do so.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Tinubu received 8.79 million ballots, surpassing Atiku Abubakar, the leading challenger, who received 6.98 million. Younger voters’ favorite but an outsider, Peter Obi, received 6.1 million ballots.
According to Nigerian electoral law, a candidate can win by receiving more votes than their opponents as long as they receive 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 36 states plus Abuja, the federal capital, which Tinubu achieved.
Because of the numerous technical issues caused by INEC’s adoption of new technology, opposition parties dismissed the results and demanded the resignation of INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu on Tuesday.
In his two terms as governor of Lagos State at the turn of the century, Tinubu urged voters to choose him based on his record of reducing violent crime, reducing traffic congestion, and cleaning up trash
However, the 70-year-old has occasionally displayed signs of frailty in public, mumbling his speech and responding to inquiries with platitudes, as well as skipping several campaign events, leading some to question his potential effectiveness.
Obi’s candidature was supported by the young, urban, and educated voters who were tired of the corrupt politics of the past, the two parties that have represented it since the end of military rule in 1999, and the old men who have tended to dominate them.
Opposition denies results
The findings were rejected by the opposition People’s Democratic Party, Labour Party, and a smaller party.
In a joint statement, they claimed that the results being announced at the National Collation Center ” have been heavily doctored and manipulated and do not reflect the wishes of Nigerians expressed at the polls.”
The INEC denied the allegation.
In a statement, it stated that “there are laid down procedures for aggrieved parties or candidates to follow when they are dissatisfied about the outcome of an election.”
Violence occasionally marred the voting, though not to the same degree as in the past.
