Muhammadu Buhari wins
Nigeria's presidential
elections

Election commission declares victory for
former military ruler, Muhammadu Buhari,
over incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.
31 Mar 2015 17:18 GMT | Politics , Africa ,
Nigeria , Nigeria Decides
The 72-year-old Buhari built an early lead
in northern state [AP]
FEATURED
Nigeria's election commission has
declared
Muhammadu Buhari the winner of the
country's bitterly contested presidential
election, in a vote marred marred by
confusion, arguments and violence.
Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege, reporting from
the capital Abuja, said the election
commission made the announcement after
nearly all votes had been tallied.
The All Progressives Congress
(APC) party said their candidate received
a phone call from incumbent President
Goodluck Jonathan where he immediately
conceded defeat and congratulated Buhari
on his victory.
"President Jonathan called General
Muhammadu Buhari, the winner of the
elections, to congratulate him," Lai
Mohammed, the spokesman for the
APC said.
"There had always been this fear that he
might not want to concede, but he will
remain a hero for this move. The tension
will go down dramatically,
"Anyone who tries to foment trouble on the
account that they have lost the election
will be doing so purely on his own," he
added.
According to the Reuters news agency,
Buhari's APC won by 2.1 million votes,
with 15.4 million votes versus 13.3 for
Jonathan and the PDP.
Victory for former military ruler Buhari
marks the first time in Nigeria's history
that an opposition party has
democratically taken control of the
country from the ruling party.
Read more of our indepth coverage on
Nigeria's election
To win the election, Buhari had needed to
win more than 50 percent of the total
votes nationally - and take at least 25
percent of the vote in two thirds of the
states.
The 72-year-old built an early lead in
northern states dominated by the mainly
Muslim, Hausa-Fulani ethnic group of
which he is a member.
Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan,
whose five years in office have been
plagued by corruption scandals and an
insurgency by Boko Haram fighters, was
trailing by around 500,000 votes before
votes in pro-opposition areas were
counted.
In the previous election, more than 800
people were killed in protests after Buhari
was defeated by Buhari.
There was a brief protest by Jonathan's
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before
the counting had resumed on Tuesday.
Former Niger Delta minister Godsday
Orubebe accused elections chief Attahiru
Jega of being "partial" and "selective".
Orubebe claimed Jega had refused to
investigate PDP complaints about big
wins by Buhari in northern states but had
launched a probe into claims by the APC
of irregularities in Rivers.
Jega said later: "I don't believe that the
allegations are substantial enough to
require the cancellation or rescheduling of
the elections in Rivers state. We will take
the results."
International observers gave broadly
positive reactions to the conduct of the
vote, despite late delivery of election
materials and technical glitches with new
voter authentication devices.
Nigeria's Transition Monitoring Group,
which had observers across the country,
said: "These issues did not systematically
disadvantage any candidate or party."


www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/opposition-party-declares-victory-nigeria-election-150331135603507.html

K