Bola Tinubu beats Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar to win Nigeria's presidential election

 

Bola Tinubu wins Nigeria's presidential election. BBC

His biggest competitor, Atiku Abubakar, polled 29%, and Labour's Peter Obi, 25%. Their political parties had already expressed disbelief in the results of the survey and called for it to be redone.

The winner of Nigeria's controversial presidential election is Bola Tinubu, who is the candidate of the ruling party.

According to the official figures, the experienced politician, who is now 70 years old, received 36 percent of the vote.

His biggest competitor, Atiku Abubakar, polled 29%, and Labour's Peter Obi, 25%. Both of their parties have previously expressed disbelief in the results of the poll and called for it to be redone.

Mr. Tinubu is one of the wealthiest politicians in Nigeria. He ran for office based on his record of redeveloping Lagos, the most populous city in the country, when he was governor.

Even so, he lost in the cities to Mr. Obi, a relative newcomer who upset the country's two-party system by getting a lot of young people, especially in cities, to vote for him.

Mr. Tinubu won in most of the other states in the south-west, which is his home region and where he is known as a "political godfather."

During his run for the presidency, he used the term "It's my time" as his campaign slogan.

After two terms in office that were characterised by economic instability and rapidly increasing uncertainty around the country, ranging from an Islamist armed uprising in the north-east to a nationwide conflict of abductions for protection money and separatist intrusions in the south-east, President Muhammadu Buhari has chosen to step down from his position as head of state.

In the country with the most people and the largest oil exports in Africa, Mr. Tinubu has now been given the responsibility of finding solutions to these issues and others.

Mr. Tinubu fought against the rule of the military in Nigeria, left the country and went into exile, and was one of the first people to start the democratic movement in Nigeria in 1999. He would think that he was always meant to be president because of all of these things.

He was always the frontrunner to succeed Mr. Buhari, whom he supported to become president, and the obstacles he has overcome during his journey will make this victory much more satisfying for him. He has consistently been the frontrunner.

Yet, contrary to expectations, he was victorious in the party primary.

Many people believed that his choice of an additional Muslim as his running partner would provide a challenge, but this did not turn out to be the case.

In the past, all major parties' presidential nominations were usually split between a Christian from the south and a Muslim from the north. This was done to get support from as many people as possible in this huge country of 210 million people.

Now, he will have to show that he is still the strong force that built modern Lagos, which is Nigeria's economic powerhouse, and that he can bring it up to speed quickly.

As the outcomes map demonstrates, Mr. Tinubu will be assuming command of a nation that is more polarised along regional and religious lines, as well as an economy that is in the process of collapsing.