THE flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu is in the lead in Nigeria’s keenly contested presidential election with official results coming in from 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
According to results presented by state collation officers for the presidential election (SCOPs) before the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, at the National Collation Centre in Abuja, Tinubu polled 8,120,391 from 32 states and the FCT.
Tinubu was followed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 6,486,000 from the 32 states and the FCT.
The Labour Party’s flag bearer, Peter Obi followed closely with 5,406,931 votes from the 32 states and the FCT while Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has 1,478,985 votes.
The four remaining states are expected to be presented by SCOPs at the national collation centre by 11pm on Tuesday, according to the INEC chairman.
According to Section 134 of the Nigerian Constitution, a presidential candidate can only be announced as the winner if he or she has the majority of votes cast at the election; and has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the FCT.
Sub-section 3 of the same section states explicitly that “in default of a candidate duly elected in accordance with subsection (2) of this section their shall be a second election”.
See the list of states officially presented to the INEC chairman by SCOPs in Abuja as of 10pm on Tuesday, February 28, 2023:
