‹—„— ƒŠ‡ƒ† ƒ• ‰Ž‹–…Š‡• †‡Žƒ› ˜‘–‡ …‘—–
NIGERIA - Nigeria’s ruling party candidate and former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu was ahead in the vote count from Saturday’s presidential election, a Reuters tally of provisional results in 12 of 36 States showed.
But outsider Peter Obi of the smaller Labour Party defeated his ruling party challenger to win Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos in a major upset in the poll which was marred by delays and complaints of irregularities.
The tally of provisional electoral commission results showed Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, ahead with about 3.7 million votes, against Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with about 2.5 million.
Obi was in third place with about 1.3 million. Around two-thirds of States in Africa’s most populous country have yet to declare.
But the win in Lagos state – with 582 454 votes against 572 606 for Tinubu – was a major boost for Obi, whose run challenged candidates from two long-established movements that have alternated in power since the end of army rule in 1999.
Obi’s campaign grabbed headlines with its use of social media and its focus on young people and urban voters fed up with widespread corruption and insecurity.
To become president, a candidate needs to get more votes than any other candidate and also garner a quarter of the votes in at least 24 States.
Electoral observers and all three major parties pointed out irregularities, many of them the result of technical glitches. The election was highly dependent on communications technology in a country with often poor internet coverage.