Bola Tinubu, a candidate for the ruling party, has been named the victor of Nigeria’s contested presidential election.
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According to official findings, the 70-year-old experienced lawmaker received 36% of the vote.
Peter Obi of Labour received 25% of the vote, and his main competitor Atiku Abubakar received 29%. Both parties had earlier criticized the election as fraudulent and called for a new one.
One of Nigeria’s wealthiest politicians, Mr. Tinubu, centered his campaign on his success in rebuilding Lagos, the country’s largest city, while serving as governor.
Nevertheless, Mr. Obi, a relative newcomer who rallied the support of many young people, particularly in urban areas, defeated him in the city, upending the two-party structure of the nation.
In his home region of the south-west, where he is referred to as a “political godfather,” Mr. Tinubu won the majority of the other states.
With the theme “It’s my turn,” he ran for president.
After two terms in government defined by economic stagnation and escalating insecurity across the nation, including an Islamic insurgency in the north-east, a national problem of kidnapping for ransom, and separatist attacks in the south-east, President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping down.
In the most populous and significant oil exporting country in Africa, Mr. Tinubu now has the responsibility of addressing these issues as well as others.
Mr. Tinubu will believe that he was destined to be president after opposing military rule in Nigeria, making his way to exile, and being one of the foundational figures of the country’s democracy in 1999.
He was always expected to succeed Mr. Buhari, whom he assisted in electing as president, and the challenges he overcame to get here would make this victory even sweeter for him.
He triumphed in the party primary despite not being predicted to do so.
Many predicted that his choice of a Muslim running partner would be problematic, yet it was not.
In the past, all major parties split their presidential ticket into a Muslim from the north and a Christian from the south in order to win support from a wide range of the 210 million-person nation.
He will now need to demonstrate his ability to get things done right away and that he is still the same powerful force behind the development of contemporary Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial center.
Mr. Tinubu will be in charge of a country that is fragmenting into regional and religious blocs, has a deteriorating economy, and is rife with insecurity.
