Tinubu wins majority votes in contentious presidential election, set to be announced president-elect

Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has won simple majority requirement needed to be declared the winner of the continuous presidential elections after amazing more than 25 per cent of the votes in 12 states.

Tinubu polled polled the majority votes with 8,805,428 votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who had 6,984,290 votes and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party with 6,101,533 votes, according to the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso scored a total of 1,496,671 votes to come fourth.

According to results announced, Tinubu won in 12 states, Atiku in 12 and Obi in eleven states and the Federal Capital Territory, while Kwankwaso managed to win one state, Kano.

The constitution provides that the winner needs to have the largest number of votes nationwide and at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (Abuja)

From the results, Tinubu has 37% of the votes counted so far, while former Vice Presidenu Abubakar has about 26%, and Labour Party candidate Peter Obi has 24%.

Tinubu won the elections in Rivers, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, and Ogun states.

Atiku won in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa, and Taraba states. He also won in Osun, Akwa Ibom, and Bayelsa states.

Obi won in Edo, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia, and Enugu states.

But while the APC has started victory party, tension is building across the country amid allegations of widespread manipulation of the election.

Crucially, despite assurances, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to transmit results from polling units on election day, which created rooms for suspicion.

In places like Rivers, Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Imo among several states of the federation, there are pictorial evidences of rewritten results, and videos evidences of electoral officers changing results, even as thugs ran rampage in some states.

The leading political parties, including the Labour Party, PDP and NNPP, among others, have since rejected the results, accusing INEC of fraud.