President Muhammadu Buhari has pronounced winner of this year’s presidential election.
Mr Buhari who defeated his predecessor to clinch the position in 2015 general election has again trounced his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The president polled 15,191,847 votes from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the 36 states in the country to defeat the former vice president who got 11,262,978 votes. POLITICS TIMES reported the stage by stage official results as announced by the electoral body.
In 2015 when he won the election, Buhari defeated his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, then sitting president, with over 2 million votes, and now while seeking a second term in office despite loosing many endorsement he had earned during his days in the opposition, the incumbent president defeated his major challenger with over 4 million votes.
Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made the pronouncement at the International Conference Centre (ICC) early Wednesday morning at about 4:40AM.
“That Muhammadu Buhari of the APC having satisfied and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared winner and return elected,” Yakubu said.
While the announcement of results was still in progress, the opposition party called for a halt, rejecting those declared earlier, the electoral body did not heed the call.
Already, the legal team of the two major political parties in the country are warming up to begin their day in court.
Meanwhile, the PDP candidate has been advised to concede defeat and congratulate the incumbent president for his victory at the poll. POLITICS TIMES reports that he is yet to do so as at press time.
