Abuja: Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected Nigeria’s President, results showed Tuesday, after a delayed poll that angered voters and led to claims of rigging and collusion.
Buhari, 76, took an unassailable lead of more than four million votes even before results to some of the states were yet to be declared making it impossible for his nearest rival, Atiku Abubakar, to win. When the results were finally declared late Tuesday night, Abubaker was still way behind.
Supporters of Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) gathered at his campaign headquarters in the capital here, to celebrate even before the final results were announced.
Some sang “We’re popping champagne!” while vice-president Yemi Osinbajo was seen in a video clip singing ‘Up we go!’ in a reference to Buhari and his ‘Next Level’ campaign slogan.
Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, posted a photograph of the President on Twitter, watching the results on television. “#BuhariHas Won,” he wrote.
But there were none of the spontaneous street parties that marked his victory four years ago, when Buhari became Nigeria’s first opposition candidate to beat an incumbent President.
To win the presidency in Nigeria, a candidate needs a majority of votes nationwide and at least 25 per cent of support in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT (Federal Capital Territory).
Initial results showed Buhari had got 15,191,847 votes or 56 per cent of the vote while Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won 11,262,978 votes or 41%.
Buhari won in 19 states – including the two most populous, Lagos and Kano – while Abubakar was victorious in 17 states and the FCT.
Meanwhile, the celebrations were marred by clashes between farmers and herdsmen that left 29 people dead. Officials said in Lagos that most of the bodies had gunshot and machete wounds and were recovered after Tuesday’s attack in Maro village in Kaduna state. A policeman was also killed while trying to calm the violence. However, they did not relate it to poll violence.
AFP
