2023 Nigeria Election: INEC declares Tinubu as president-elect

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been declared the President-elect for Nigeria by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after several days of voting and waiting for the announcement of the results.

The 2023 General Election’s race to elect the next Nigerian President to succeed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) leader Buhari took place on Saturday, February 25th.

On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, which was four (4) days after the voting had taken place, the Chief Returning Officer for the 2023 Presidential Election and Chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, announced at 4:10 am in Abuja, Nigeria that Tinubu, who had contested on the ruling party APC’s ticket, had emerged as the winner and will continue the work as Nigeria’s next president, succeeding General Buhari.

Announcing the results, Prof. Yakubu said: “That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”

The INEC boss announced that Tinubu and the Vice President-elect Kashim Shettima will get their certificates of return today at 3.00pm.

The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Tinubu, secured a victory by garnering 8,794,726 million votes out of the total registered voters of 93,469,008 million, with only 25,286,617l6 million voters participating in the election. The total number of valid votes cast was 24,965,218, while the number of rejected votes was 24,025,940.

Tinubu’s victory was achieved by securing votes from various parts of the country. He won in 12 states across five of the six geo-political zones, except for the Southeast where LP candidate Obi hails from and won all five states. Obi received the majority of his 6.1m votes from the Southeast. Tinubu won in Ekiti, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo in the Southwest region; Niger, Benue, Kogi, Kwara in the Northcentral region; Zamfara, Jigawa in the Northwest region; Borno in the Northeast region; and Rivers in the Southsouth region. He obtained 25% of the total valid votes in 27 states, including the 12 states where he emerged as the outright winner.

Tinubu was able to obtain the required spread in 15 states, namely Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Sokoto, Bauchi, Yobe, Kano, Kebbi, Plateau, Gombe, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Katsina, Taraba, Lagos, and Osun.

Atiku, the PDP candidate, received 6,984,520 votes and won in five Northeastern states (Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Taraba), four Northwestern states (Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, and Sokoto), two Southsouth states (Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa), and one Southwest state (Osun). The PDP government was unable to secure a win in any state in the Northcentral and Southeast regions.

Obi, who garnered 6,101,533 votes, won in five Southeastern states (Enugu, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, and Imo), one Southwest state (Lagos), two Northcentral states (Plateau and Nasarawa), and three Southsouth states (Cross River, Edo, and Delta) as well as the FCT. However, he did not win in any of the Northeastern states.

The NNPP candidate received 1,476,697 votes, while Kwankwaso won only in the Northcentral state of Kano.

When Will Tinubu Be Crowned President?

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory in the election means that he will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, May 29, 2023, and become the fifth president of the Republic of Nigeria in the Fourth Republic.