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Bola Tinubu is declared winner of Nigeria’s presidential election but rivals call for a re-vote

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Bola Tinubu has been declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election, despite early demands from rivals for a re-vote.

Mr Tinubu, who ran for the ruling All Progressives Congress party, received 8,794,726 votes, while Atiku Abubakar from the People’s Democratic Party came in second with 6,984,520.

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Atiku Abubakar. Pic: AP
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Peter Obi. Pc: AP

The Labour Party’s Peter Obi, described as a wildcard who had been appealing to younger voters, finished third with 6,101,533 votes, according to the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The two leading opposition parties have said that delays in uploading results left room for irregularities and Mr Abubakar and Mr Obi are expected to take their appeals to court.

The victorious All Progressives Congress party said they should accept defeat and not cause trouble.

The rivals have three weeks to appeal the results.

To have the election judged invalid, they will need to prove the national electoral body did not follow the law and acted in a way that could have changed the outcome.

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The question remains as to whether this outcome will stand…

A day before ballots were cast nationwide, Bola Tinubu told Sky News and other journalists gathered by the pool at his Lagos home that he was confident he would win.

He cited his track record as Governor of Lagos from 1999 to 2007 as a clear indicator of his capacity to govern the country, calling Lagos “a country within itself”.

Extraordinarily, he went on to lose the presidential vote in Lagos State to 61-year-old former Anambra governor, Peter Obi, of the newer Labour Party who has been seen as the youth candidate throughout this election.

Mr Tinubu responded to the Lagos loss with “you win some, you lose some” but went on to lose Nigeria’s capital Abuja – where he will be presiding from – to Mr Obi. In this northern APC stronghold, Mr Obi won 59% of the popular vote. Mr Tinubu only won 19%.

Without two major symbolic political strongholds Lagos and Abuja nor a state majority, the question remains as to whether this outcome will stand.

According to Mr Tinubu’s campaign website, he was born in Lagos in 1952 to a Muslim family from the Yoruba ethnic group, but some say he is older than this.

He moved to the US in the 1970s and worked in a number of jobs – dishwasher, taxi driver, and night guard – to pay for his education.

In 1979 he graduated from Chicago State University with a business administration degree, returning to Nigeria in the 1980s, working initially as an auditor for oil company Mobil.

He was elected governor of Lagos in 1999 after military rule was ended.

He served two terms, with opinions divided on his success – supporters say he improved infrastructure but others say the city is still deeply dysfunctional.

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