By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) President-elect.
The Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, pronounced Tinubu President-elect at exactly 4:10am on Wednesday, 1 March, 2023.
INEC boss said Tinubu polled a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, Atiku Abubakar, who polled 6,984,520 votes while Peter Obi of Labour Party, secured 6,101,533, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigerian Peoples Party trailed with 1,496,687.
According to him, valid votes were 24,025940 and rejected votes were 939,278, while the total votes cast were 24,966218
The announcement, which was done at the National Collation Centre in Abuja, signalled the end of the collation which started on Sunday, 26 February, 2023.
Declaring the final result, the INEC Chairman said Tinubu and the APC also satisfied the constitutional requirement.
Yakubu said the certificate of return (CoR) would be issued to Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima by 3pm on Wednesday, 1 March, 2023.
