Bola Tinubu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, is elected as the new President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. His victory was announced on Wednesday 1 March by the National Electoral Commission (Inec) after the presidential elections of 25 February.
According to the results announced by the Electoral Commission on 1 March, Bola Tinubu received more than 8.8 million votes alongside his two main rivals Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the main opposition PDP (6.9 million votes) and Peter Obi of the LP Labour Party (6.1 million votes). According to the rule, a person can be elected president if he or she has obtained 25% of the votes in at least two-thirds of the 36 states of the Federation, as well as the capital territory, Abuja.
Bola Tinubu became president, his lifelong dream, in one of the most contested elections in Nigeria’s democratic history. “I call on my competitors to team up together. This is the only nation we have,” he told the opposition, adding: “This is a country that we must build together, putting the broken pieces back together. We must work in unity.
The 70-year-old was known in Nigeria for his political influence. A former Governor of Lagos Province, he has a reputation as a kingmaker in the country that is the largest economy on the continent.
But Muhammadu Buhari’s successor inherits a rather disastrous record. Nigeria today faces a multitude of problems. A security crisis marked by the spread of jihadist violence, a monetary crisis with a shortage of banknotes, a severe energy crisis, not to mention social inequalities…
Even though the results have not yet been announced, the main competitors denounced fraud and manipulation of the figures and called for the cancellation of the election.
