Breaking: INEC finally declares APC’s Bola Tinubu winner of Feb. 25 Presidential poll

Four days after the polls, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was on Wednesday morning declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Seventy-year-old Tinubu, came atop in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, and secured the highest number of votes — 8,794,726, about two million votes more than his closest rival, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, announced the results at about 4.10am at the packed National Collation Centre in Abuja, with hordes of journalists, foreign observers and party members.

He declared:“That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected ”

Abubakar, 76, a five- time runner for president, garnered 6,984,520 votes, while the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533.

Abubakar, like Tinubu, was victorious in 12 states.

Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, won the polls in 11 states, including the home state of the APC candidate — Lagos and the nation’s capital, Abuja.

Former Kano State Governor and candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso, came distant fourth, winning majority votes in his state — Kano, got 1,496,687 votes.

Persecondnews recalls that the presidential election was reportedly marred by controversy, violence and ballot box snatching in some states and non-uploading of results by INEC officials into the server instead of the manual collation, a bone of contention by PDP, LP and other parties.