Nigeria declares the election winner
Early this morning, electoral officials in Nigeria announced that Bola Tinubu, a candidate for the governing party who ran on the platform of “It’s my turn,” had won the election. After eight years under former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, the election was the most open and closely monitored in recent memory.
At the polling places, delays and violence ruined the election. The political groups of Tinubu’s two main competitors said yesterday that the vote had been stolen and demanded a new one. Julius Abure, leader of the opposition Labour Party, demanded that the fraudulent election be promptly canceled. “We have completely given up on the entire thing,”
Atiku Abubakar, a multimillionaire businessman and former vice president who, at 76, had ran for president five times, and Peter Obi, a former state governor who inspired young Nigerians and shocked the nation by running with the obscure Labour Party, were Tinubu’s main rivals.
According to the results, Abubakar received 6.9 million votes, Obi 6.1 million, and Tinubu 8.7 million. According to Nigerian law, a candidate must receive the most votes and at least 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the nation’s 36 states in order to win.
From Opinion: According to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, electoral transparency is essential for Nigeria to have a functioning democracy.
