The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sen. Bola Tinubu winner of Feb. 25 presidential election.
Tinubu, who was former Governor of Lagos State, garnered a total votes of 8,794,726 to defeat his major rivals; Atiku Abubakar of the People Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 6,984,520 votes , and Peter Obi of Labour Party who secured 6,101,533 votes of the 24,965,218 total vote cast.
Also Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso- of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) came distant fourth with 1,496,687 votes.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said that Tinubu is declared returned and elected having satisfied the requirements..
“That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC having satisfied the requirements of the law and scoring the highest votes is hereby declared winner and elected,” Yakubu said.
Yakubu also listed the votes scored by other political parties and their Presidential Candidates as follows: Accord (A), Prof. Christopher Imumulen- 61,014
Action Alliance (AA) Almustapha Hamza-14,542
African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore-14,608
African Democratic Congress (ADC) Dumebi Kachikwu-81,919
Action Democratic Party (ADP) Sani Yabagi -43,924
All Progressives Congress (APC) Sen. Bola Tinubu-8,794,726
All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Prof. Peter Umeadi -61,966
Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Princess ChiChi Ojei-25,961
Action Peoples Party (APP) Nnadi Charles Osita-12,839
Boot Party (BP), Adenuga Oluwafemi-16,156
Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi -6,101,533
New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Sen. Rabiu Kwankwaso-1,496,687
National Rescue Movement (NRM) Osakwe Felix Johnson -24,869
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) , Atiku Abubakar-6,984,520
Peoples Redemption Party ( PRP), Kola Abiola-72,144
Social Democratic Party (SDP) Prince Adewole Adebayo-80,2067
Young Progressive Party (YPP) Prince Abdulmalik Ado-Ibrahim-60,600
Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) Nwanyanwu Daberechukwu-77,665
He gave the total number of registered voters in the country as 93,469,008, accredited voters as 25,286,616, valid votes as 24,025,940 and rejected votes as 939,278.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC will present the Certificate of Return to Tinubu at 3 p.m.
NAN also reports that the election result sheets was not signed by PDP, LP, NNPP, and others parties which had earlier on Monday staged a walk out of the national collation centre, alleging the process of the election had been compromised, demanding the election should be cancelled and a fresh poll be conducted.
They also demanded that INEC Chairman should step aside and allow another person conduct the election.
According to Yakubu, Certificate of Return for the president-elect and vice president-elect would be issued on Wednesday at 3pm, while the commission would on Thursday issue a statement on when the Certificate of Return for the senators-elect and House of Representatives members -elect would be issued.(NAN) By Emmanuel Oloniruha and Angela Atabo, News Diary