Tinubu/APC Breaks The 8
The wait for Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) announcement was long and stressful, especially for the candidates, but when it finally came, the ruling party, All People’s Congress (APC) with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the flagbearer beat them all.
He goes by the Yoruba title “Asiwaju,” which means “leader,” and as fate will have it, he is now President-Elect.
President Muhammudu Buhari of the APC has already served two terms, implying that the ACP will continue in the realms of Nigeria’s affairs for the next four years.
The 70-year-old man beat his closest rivals Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and Abubakar Atiku of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in a race which many analyst locally and internationally described as too close to call.
Expectedly, the alliance of opposition parties has called for a rerun of the polls because of alleged electoral breaches.
The elections which were held last Saturday saw the introduction of a fresh technology.
The winner was former Lagos State Governor, the announcement having been made in the early hours of Wednesday. The victor won with 8.8 million votes, according to INEC.
Candidate Atiku Abubakar came second with 6.9 million votes, with Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, who scored a major upset in Tinubu’s home state of Lagos, third with 6.1 million votes.
According to Nigerian electoral law, the candidate with the most votes can automatically be declared the winner if they also receive 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 36 states and the federal capital Abuja, which Tinubu managed to achieve.
“Tinubu, Bola Ahmed, of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu said on Wednesday morning. Social media posts depicted Bola Tinubu watching a television as the announcement was made, and with his friends they cheered the victor, doing so with a clenched fist.
With over 90 million eligible voters partaking in the polls, some challenges did occur, some of them being long delays at many polling stations, which contributed to the slow release of results over several days.
International observers, including from the European Union (EU), noted major logistical problems and a lack of transparency from the INEC.
The parties of Abubakar and Obi alleged that vote count was compromised and have called for fresh elections.
“The results being declared at the National Collation Centre have been heavily doctored and manipulated and do not reflect the wishes of Nigerians expressed at the polls,” they said in a joint statement.
But Nigeria’s electoral commission dismissed these claims.
“Contrary to the insinuation by both parties, results emanating from the states point to a free, fair and credible process,” the INEC said.
Tinubu was the governor of Lagos State from 1999 until 2007.
Regarded as a political godfather, his loss to Peter Obi received massive publicity.
The biography on his campaign website says he was born in Lagos in 1952 to a Muslim Yoruba family.
In the 1970s, he studied in the United States while working as a dishwasher, taxi driver and night guard.
After that, he returned to Nigeria to work in the oil industry.
Tinubu has at times appeared frail and with slurred speech on the campaign trail, but he has repeatedly dismissed any concerns about his health.
Even before the declaration by INEC, an elated Tinubu was spotted dancing with some friends or colleagues.
A Ghanaian former National Security Advisor, Baba Kamara, was appointed by ECOWAS to be a deputy head of an observer team.
Former President John Mahama later turned up in Abuja as a member of West Africa Elders Forum.
In his victory speech, the President-Elect said, “I am profoundly humbled that you have elected me to serve as the 16th President of our beloved republic. This is a shining moment in the life of any man and affirmation of our democratic existence. From my heart, I say thank you.
“I thank all who supported my campaign from President Buhari who adeptly led my campaign as its chairman to my Vice Presidential Candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima.”
It was an election which had social media posting a picture of a Peter Obi winning and the victor losing, until the declaration.
It was an election Ghanaian politicians followed, taking note of all the twists and turns, with some comparing the performance of INEC and our own Electoral Commission.