The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has handed a certificate of return (CoR) to Bola Tinubu, as Nigeria’s president-elect.
INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, presented Tinubu with the certificate at a ceremony 3 pm at the National Collation Centre in Abuja on Wednesday, March 1, 2023.
Yakubu had pronounced the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (Tinubu) the winner of the February 25 presidential election just hours earlier at the same venue.
The presentation came a few hours after Tinubu was declared the winner of the Saturday, February 25 poll, garnering 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, who scored 6,984,520.
The former Lagos State governor secured 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who finished second with 6,984,520 votes and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who finished third with 6,101,533 votes.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that LP and PDP have strongly condemned INEC’s handling of the election and rejected the collation process for not being transparent enough.
They accused the APC of rigging the polls, called for the cancellation of the election and demanded the resignation of Yakubu.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) recalls that at the early hour of Wednesday (today), INEC Chairman announced Tinubu as the winner at the International Collation Centre in Abuja.
Declaring Tinubu as the winner, the INEC boss said, “That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”
Tinubu won the election ahead of other contenders — the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Atiku Abubakar; the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi; and the New Nigeria Peoples Party candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso.
The top three presidential candidates won in 12 states each while Kwankwaso claimed only Kano State.
After announcing Tinubu as the winner, Yakubu explained that the commission would be presenting the certificate of return to Tinubu and Shettima at the International Collation Centre in Abuja.
Yakubu said the commission would issue a statement later today on when the ceremony for senators and House of Representatives members-elect would hold.