https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/3/1/nigeria-election-results-live-tinubu-declared-winner


The electoral commission has declared ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu winner of Nigeria’s presidential election.
Tinubu’s ruling All Progressives Congress party urged the opposition to accept defeat.
The announcement is likely to lead to a court challenge by Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi who finished behind Tinubu.
Observers said polls were mostly peaceful, though delays caused some voters to wait until the following day to cast their ballots.

Buhari calls on opposition parties not to undermine electoral body
President Muhammadu Buhari says opposition parties should not undermine the electoral commission, adding that the results announced by the poll body show democracy is “ripening” in the West African country.

“The results reveal democracy’s ripening in our country. Votes and those that cast them cannot be taken for granted. Each must be earned. Competition is good for our democracy. There is no doubt the people’s decision has been rendered in the results we look at today,” Buhari said in a tweet.

“If any candidate believes they can prove the fraud they claim is committed against them, then bring forward the evidence. To take to the streets means they are not doing it in the interest of the people, but rather to inflame, to put people in harm’s way and all for personal, selfish gains,” Buhari said.

“Do not undermine the credibility of INEC [The Independent National Electoral Commission]. Let us now move forward as one. The people have spoken,” he added.

Anger’ from opposition parties as they claim vote ‘stolen’
Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the Nigerian capital, Abuja, says people are just waking up to the announcement that Bola Tinubu has been declared the winner of Saturday’s poll.

“It’s been a very tense moment for everybody and considering the delay we’ve seen over the past few days and reactions to protests from opposition parties, we expected this to happen. With the result coming so early, definitely, a lot of people are just waking up to the news that the ruling party candidate has just won,” Idris said.

“This is a deeply divided country. So many factors have played at the elections. You have religion, politics, regionalism and ethnicity. So many problems have gone into this election,” he added.

“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. The ruling party insisted that there was no play in the election commission,” Idris said.

President-elect Bola Tinubu defends poll win
Nigeria’s new president-elect Bola Tinubu has defended the integrity of the national election that he won, and called on citizens to unite around him after a bitter dispute over results that opposition parties have said are flawed.

“I commend INEC [The Independent National Electoral Commission] for running a credible election no matter what anybody says,” Tinubu said. “The lapses that were reported, they were relatively few in number and were immaterial to affect the final outcome of the election.”

INEC promised to upload results from each polling unit to its website in real time but most units were unable to do so immediately, undermining trust in the process. Because of these failings, the main opposition parties of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have rejected the results as fraudulent.


Ruling APC supporters celebrate Tinubu’s election victory
The ruling All Progressives Congress party supporters are celebrating Bola Tinubu’s election win after the former Lagos governor was declared president-elect by the electoral commission.

“None of the others matches his record!” said Babafemi Akin, as he talked excitedly about the prospects of a Tinubu administration. “I am sure he will do well.”

Adenike Mutiat Abubakar, 43, said he has high hopes for Tinubu to deliver for all Nigerians.

“He has done it before, and we know that he will do better than what he did in Lagos,” Abubakar said. “He’s the man of the people, so that’s why everybody wants him.”


President Buhari congratulates Tinubu on election win
President Muhammadu Buhari has congratulated Bola Tinubu for winning Saturday’s highly contested poll.

“Elected by the people, he is the best person for the job. I shall now work with him and his team to ensure an orderly handover of power,” Buhari said in a statement.

I congratulate His Excellency @officialABAT on his victory. Elected by the people, he is the best person for the job. I shall now work with him and his team to ensure an orderly handover of power. pic.twitter.com/YwryZ1uFXJ

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) March 1, 2023

Buhari and Tinubu are from the same party – the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

President Buhari is stepping down after serving two four-year terms in office.