The vote count is finally over in Nigeria. It was Bola Tinubu, candidate of the ruling party, who won the largest number of presidential votes on Wednesday March 1, ensuring him victory, according to official results announced by the National Electoral Commission (Inec) overnight. The candidate of the Congress of Progressives (APC) obtained 8.8 million votes, ahead of his main rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP (6.9 million votes) and Peter Obi of the Labor Party (6.1 million votes).
Bola Tinubu also won 25% of the votes in at least two-thirds of the federation’s 36 states as well as the capital territory Abuja, a necessary condition to be declared the winner.
More than 87 million voters were called to the polls on Saturday February 25 and the ballot, whose participation is not yet known, was generally calm. But many observers have criticized delays in counting and major failures in the electronic transfer of results.
On Tuesday, even before the announcement of the final results, the opposition called for the cancellation of the election, denouncing “massive” fraud. Inec, for its part, brushed aside “unfounded and irresponsible” accusations, adding that the candidates were “free to go to court” if they considered themselves wronged.
Aged 70, Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos (southwest) and nicknamed “the godfather” because of his immense political influence, is expected to succeed incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, 80, who is stepping down after two terms, as the Constitution demands. He will have the difficult task, for four years, of redressing the English-speaking giant weighed down by a flagging economy, recurrent violence by armed groups and bandits, as well as a general impoverishment of the population.
With its 216 million inhabitants, Nigeria should become the third most populous country in the world by 2050, while West Africa is threatened by a strong democratic decline and the spread of jihadist violence.
