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ABUJA, Nigeria — Ruling celebration candidate Bola Tinubu was declared winner of Nigeria’s presidential election early Wednesday and shortly after thanked his supporters and appealed to his rivals who’re already demanding a revote in Africa’s most populous nation.
The announcement by election officers in a single day was prone to result in a court docket problem by the second- and third-highest finishers within the weekend vote, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. Abubakar additionally completed second within the final vote in 2019, then appealed these outcomes earlier than his lawsuit finally was dismissed.
Tinubu’s ruling All Progressives Congress celebration urged the opposition to just accept defeat Tuesday and never trigger hassle after they’d demanded a revote saying that delays in importing election outcomes had made room for irregularities.
Tinubu obtained 37% of the vote, or practically 8.8 million, whereas foremost opposition candidate Abubakar gained 29% with virtually 7 million. Third-place finisher Obi took 25% with about 6.1 million, in keeping with the outcomes introduced on stay tv by the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee.
The president-elect thanked his supporters within the capital, Abuja, after his victory was introduced and struck a reconciliatory tone in a message directed at his political adversaries.
“I take this chance to enchantment to my fellow contestants to allow us to crew up collectively,” Tinubu mentioned. “It’s the solely nation now we have. It’s one nation and we should construct collectively.”
The announcement of his victory got here after 4 a.m., however celebrations already had began late Tuesday on the ruling celebration’s nationwide secretariat the place Tinubu’s supporters had gathered in anticipation of his victory.
“Not one of the others matches his report!” mentioned Babafemi Akin as he chatted excitedly concerning the prospects of a Tinubu administration. “I’m certain he’ll do properly.”
Tinubu, 70, is the previous governor of Lagos state, house to Nigeria’s megacity of the identical title. Nevertheless, he misplaced the state in Saturday’s election to Obi, who drew a powerful following amongst youthful voters anticipating change.
The events now have three weeks to enchantment outcomes, however an election will be invalidated provided that it’s confirmed the nationwide electoral physique largely didn’t comply with the legislation and acted in ways in which may have modified the consequence.
The Supreme Courtroom of Nigeria has by no means overturned a presidential election, although court docket challenges are widespread, together with by outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, who doggedly fought his previous election losses for months in useless.
Nigeria’s presidential election has been intently watched because the nation is just not solely the continent’s largest financial system however it is usually one of many continent’s high oil producers.
Observers have mentioned Saturday’s election was principally peaceable, although delays triggered some voters to attend till the next day to forged their ballots. Many Nigerians had difficulties attending to their polling stations due to a foreign money redesign that resulted in a scarcity of financial institution notes.
Related Press journalists Taiwo Ajayi in Abuja, Nigeria; Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal; and Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso contributed.