Opposition parties have already demanded a revote.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria and LONDON, United Kingdom — Ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election early Wednesday, amid calls from the opposition for a rerun in Africa’s largest democracy.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Mahmood Yakubu announced the results on live television just after 4 a.m. local time. Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party garnered a total of 8,794,726 votes, or about 35%, defeating his three main rivals: Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 6,984,520 votes, or about 29%; and Peter Obi of the lesser known Labour Party, who received 6,101,533 votes, or about 25%. A total of 24,966,218 votes were cast, of which 24,025,940 were valid and 939,278 were rejected, according to Yakubu.
On Tuesday, as votes were still being counted and provisional results showed Tinubu in the lead, Abubakar’s PDP and Obi’s Labour Party demanded a do-over and called on the INEC chairman to resign. Both opposition parties alleged that the results had been manipulated, citing disparities between votes that were tallied at local polling stations and the data that was uploaded to the INEC’s website. Dozens of protesters took to the streets in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and southern Delta state.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Source: abc news
