After a very keen electoral contest, General Muhammadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged victorious in the March 28 presidential election. He defeated the incumbent president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who is the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and twelve other contestants to emerge Nigeria’s sixth democratically elected President.
The former Head of state and candidate of the APC polled about 15 million votes, about 55 percentof valid votes cast in the 35 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and is expected to be declared the ultimate winner of the two-horse presidential race as soon as the results for Borno is collated and the total votes announced.
President Jonathan, the candidate of the PDP polled about 13 million votes, representing 44 percent of votes. The two leading candidates secured more than 25 percent of their votes from more than 25 states of the federation as required by the constitutional. But Buhari emerged victorious based on the fact he secured the highest number of the votes.
Theeconomyng.com learnt that President Jonathan has already called Buhari on phone to accept defeat and congratulate on his well-deserved victory.
Buhari beat Jonathan in Ogun, Kogi, Osun, Ondo, Oyo, Kwara, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Gombe, Sokoto, Jigawa and Kaduna states respectively. The 72-year-old leader also won in Adamawa, Bauchi, Lagos, Niger, Yobe and Zamfara.
Jonathan, on the other hand earned a higher number of votes than Buhari in Ekiti, Enugu, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Imo and Plateau states. Jonathan also secured more votes than his arch rival in Benue, Edo, Delta, Rivers, Taraba, and the FCT. Jonathan equally triumphed in Benue, Edo, Delta and Rivers.
Meanwhile, President Jonathanwho won overwhelmingly in all the states of the South East and south-south, however, protested results declared from Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, Katsina and Kogi States, alleging widespread irregularities.The party’s agent and former Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe caused a scene at the election collation center in Abuja around 11 am on Tuesday, March 31 when he insisted that the petitions submitted by his party must be sufficiently addressed before proceedings could continue.“We have lost faith in Jega, he is partial, he is tribalistic”, Orubebe repeatedly declared as he held the microphone and refused to allow the INEC chairman to respond. It took a lot of persuasion for the PDP agent to exit the stage and allow proceedings to continue, but not without warning that his party would not accept those results.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), also submitted a documented complaints over the outcome of the presidential elections in Rivers where it claimed no election took place.
Buhari’s pyrrhic triumph, the first time an incumbent candidate and ruling party suffered defeat in Nigeria’s political history, marks a turning point for the world’s most populous black nation.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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