Abuja – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, winner of Saturday’s presidential election.
Announcing the result in Abuja at about 3.15 a.m. on Wednesday in Abuja, INEC Chairman and Chief Returning Officer of the polls, Prof. Attahiru Jega, said that Buhari satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes.
Jega stated that Buhari polled a total of 15,424,921votes to defeat his closest rival and incumbent President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 12,853,162 votes.
Consequently, he decalred that “having satisfied the provisions of the law and having scored the highest number of votes cast, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari stands elected as president”.
The declared result showed that Buhari beat Jonathan by 2,571,759 votes, and won in 22 states of the federation.
Jega added that Buhari obtained 25 per cent of votes cast in 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory while Jonathan obtained 25 per cent of votes cast in 26 states and the FCT.
The Nigerian Constitution provides that a candidate must secure a majority of the total votes cast, and a minimum of 25 per cent in two-third of the states and the FCT, to emerge winner.
A breakdown of the results as announced by Jega showed that the APC candidate garnered 53.96 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the elections.
Buhari won in all seven states of the North-West geo-political zone comprising Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara, and in Benue, Kogi, Kwara and Niger in North Central.
In the North-East, he clinched majority votes in Gombe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Yobe, and Borno, in addition to Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Lagos in the South-West.
Jonathan swept all the states in the South-East comprising Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Imo and South-South states of Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Edo, Delta and Rivers.
He also clinched the majority ballots in Ekiti in the South-West, Taraba in the North-East, and Nasarawa, Plateau and FCT in the North-Central.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Jonathan has conceded defeat and congratulated Buhari on the victory. (NAN)
