The World Votes: Bola Tinubu Declared Victor In Nigerian Presidential Election 

By Samuel Pennifold, Editor in Chief & MINT Environment and Sustainability student

Bola Tinubu has today been declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election, making him the 16th President of Nigeria – Africa’s largest country. This represents a major victory for the All Progressives Congress, APC, which will continue to hold majorities in both chambers and the Presidential office despite recent economic stagnation. 

Muhammadu Buhari, the current APC President of Nigeria, has congratulated Tinubu on his victory saying that he is the “best man for the job”. Buhari did acknowledge the claims of fraud, violence, and intimidation that the opposition parties have made and asked them to take any dispute “to the courts, not to the streets”. Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the Nigerian capital, Abuja, said “the next few days will determine if we will see protests on the streets. There is a lot of anger from the opposition parties that this election was stolen from them”. 

According to official results, Tinubu beat out opposition challengers Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to claim a narrow victory. Obi, an upstart challenger to the country’s two major parties, had invigorated Nigeria’s massive under-35 population and saw strong performances in the country’s major urban centres, including the largest city Laos, where Tinubu had previously served as governor. Nonetheless, Tinubu was able to secure 37% of the vote nationally and at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, a requirement designed to show a President has national support. 

Tinubu, one of the country’s richest men, will be charged with delivering Nigeria to an age of prosperity and security. Over 60 per cent of the Nigerian population lives in poverty and faces multiple security threats including, militancy in oil-rich areas, clashes between herdsmen and farmers, kidnapping, and Islamic insurgencies led by the Islamic State and Boko in the North East of the country.
In the face of these risks, Tibubu called for unity from the opposition party and candidates praising Nigeria’s democracy in his acceptance speech. Tibubu thanked the people of Nigeria for their votes stating he was humbled by them.