Tinubu leads after collation, may be declared winner

Abuja, NIGERIA — The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is set to be declared the winner of the 2023 presidential election after polling 8,805,420 votes in the February 25th election.

A tally of the votes announced by electoral officials from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory at the national collation centre in Abuja showed Tinubu leading his closest challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, by no fewer than 1.8 million votes.

Atiku, polled 6,984,290 votes to place second, while the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, came third with 6,093,962 votes. The trio won in 12 states each.

In the South-West, although Tinubu lost Lagos State, considered his strongest fort, to the LP candidate and Osun State to his PDP counterpart, the 70-year-old won in Oyo State with 449,884 votes; Ondo 369,924; Ekiti 201,494 and Ogun 341,554.

Tinubu recorded victories in northern states like Kwara 263,572; Jigawa 421,390; Zamfara 298,396; Borno 252,282; Benue 310,468; Kogi 240,751; Niger 375,183.

The former Lagos State governor also won in Rivers State with 231,591 votes.

Meanwhile, Atiku polled most of the votes in the North, winning Kaduna with 554,360 votes, Sokoto with 288,679, Adamawa with 417,611, Osun with 354,366, Gombe with 319,123, Yobe with 198,567, Katsina 489,045, Taraba 189,017, Bayelsa 68,818, Akwa Ibom 214,012, among others.

Obi won in Cross River 179,917, Nasarawa 191, 361, Enugu 428,640, Lagos 582,664, Imo 352,904, Delta 341,866, Abuja 281, 717, Edo 331,163, Ebonyi 259,738, Anambra 584,621, Abia 327,095, Plateau 466,272, among others.

By Sharon Osaji/Punch