•Atiku: 6,984,520, wins 12 states
•Obi: 6,101,533, wins 11 states + FCT
•Kwankwaso: 1,496,687, wins one state
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu polled a total votes of 8,794,726 to defeat his closest rival and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar who scored 6,984,520 votes, and Peter Obi of Labour party who polled 6,101,533 votes.
The presidential candidate of New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso came a distant fourth with the total votes of 1,496,687 votes.
Yakubu said the registered voters for the election was 93,469,008, while 25,286,616 voters were accredited.
He put the total valid votes at 24,025,940, while total rejected votes were 939,278.
The INEC chairman said the total number of votes cast was 24,965,218.
He declared: “I certify that I am the returning officer for the 2023 presidential election held on the 25th of February 2003.
“That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and returned elected. The Certificate of Return to the president elect and Vice president elect will take place here at 3pm today.”
Yakubu said for Senators and Members of the House of Representatives elect, the commission would issue a statement today on when the presentation of their own certification would be made.
Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kasim Shettima, who were the plaintiffs in the suit filed before a Federal High Court in Kano, in their motion on notice filed alongside the originating summons, had asked the court to make the order restraining the defendants from stopping the collation and announcement of the results because, “damages will not adequately compensate for the injury that may be occasioned on the Plaintiffs if by the Defendants stop the collation of the result.”
Also yesterday, INEC had responded to the groundswell of grievances about the conduct of last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections with an assurance that the polls would be reviewed where necessary in accordance with Section 65 of the Electoral Act.
But the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) had thrown its weight behind the electoral body, saying the ongoing collation of the presidential election results should continue, despite the overwhelming public misgivings.
Amid the growing complaints about the polls, the PDP, Labour Party (LP), and African Democratic Congress (ADC), had yesterday, called on Yakubu, to stand down from superintending the election process on account of his alleged biases.
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The parties stated this during a joint press conference in Abuja, where they played a tape of Yakubu promising last November that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would be used in the 2023 elections.
However, a statement yesterday by Yakubu’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi, described the calls for the INEC chairman’s resignation as misplaced and irresponsible.
