President Muhammadu Buhari has secured second term after last weekend’s presidential elections in Nigeria, the INEC has confirmed. But losing opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar has rejected the result as a “sham” victory which he will challenge in court. Reports reGina Jane Jere
Despite protestations from the losing opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) calling for a delay in making the announcement, the Chief Returning Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) – Mahmood Yakubu declared the incumbent Muhammadu Buhari the official winner of the 23 February presidential poll.
The final total was announced as 15, 191,847 votes for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against Atiku Abubakar’s PDP final of 11,262 978 votes.
The overall total number of registered voters in this election was 82,344,107, but only 28,614,190 votes were cast, out of which 1,289,607 were invalidated.
“…Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of the votes is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” Yakubu declared.
Buhari took to twitter to acknowledge his win urged his supporters to be humble in victory while denouncing violence: “…I am profoundly grateful to you for judging me worthy of continuing to serve … I would like to make a special appeal to my supporters not to gloat or humiliate the opposition. Victory is enough reward for your efforts…[but] I am very sad at the grievous loss of lives during these elections. Security agencies will step up their efforts to protect voters in the forthcoming State elections,” he wrote.
Nigerians will be voting in Governorship, State Assembly and FCT Area Council Elections on 9 March.
But Buhari’s challenger, and one time ally Atiku Abubakar has rejected the result outright, calling it a “sham” and that he will “not allow democracy to be emasculated”. He added one further calling Nigeria “the world headquarters for extreme poverty.”
Out of the 36 states, 19 voted APC giving the ruling party almost 56% of the vote
Kano State produced the highest number of votes for APC at 1,464,768 compared to the PDP, which polled 391,593 in the state.
Buhari’s home state gave him the second highest vote of 1,232,133. Surprisingly, Atiku’s home state of Adamawa gave the PDP: 410,266 votes to APC’s 378,078.
The PDP’s highest vote came from the Delta state at 594,068 to APC’s 221,292.
Atiku rejects “sham” results
Details of Atiku’s court challenge are yet to follow, but he was categorical about his next move:
“With regards to the Presidential elections that took place on February 23, 2019, it is clear that there were manifest and premeditated malpractices in many states which negate the results announced…One obvious red flag is the statistical impossibility of states ravaged by the war on terror generating much higher voter turnouts than peaceful states. The suppressed votes in my strongholds are so apparent and amateurish, that I am ashamed as a Nigerian that such could be allowed to happen. How can total votes in Akwa-Ibom, for instance, be 50% less than what they were in 2015?,” Atiku Abubakar decried in a strongly-worded statement he shared to his 747,000 facebook followers.
He added: “If I had lost in a free and fair election, I would have called the victor within seconds…However, in my democratic struggles for the past three decades, I have never seen our democracy so debased as it was on Saturday…Consequently, I hereby reject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be challenging it in court.”
State-by-State APC vs PDP – how Nigeria voted
Below are the full results tally
RIVERS STATE
APC: 150,710
PDP: 473,971
Total No: Reg Voters:3,215,273
Total No: of Accredited:678,167
Total Votes Cast:666,585
Total Valid Votes:642,165
Rejected Votes: 24,420
ZAMFARA STATE
APC: 438,682
PDP: 125,423
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,717,128
Total No: of Accredited: 616,168
Total Votes Cast: 597,224
Total Valid Votes: 578,439
Rejected Votes: 18,785
KEBBI STATE
APC: 581,552
PDP: 154,282
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,802,697
Total No: of Accredited: 835,238
Total Votes Cast:803,755
Total Valid Votes:756,605
Rejected Votes:47,150
SOKOTO STATE
APC: 490,333
PDP: 361,604
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,895,266
Total No: of Accredited: 950,107
Total Votes Cast: 925,940
Total Valid Votes: 871,891
Rejected Votes: 54,049
BAYELSA STATE
APC: 118,821
PDP: 197,933
Total No: Reg Voters:923,182
Total No: of Accredited:344,237
Total Votes Cast:335,856
Total Valid Votes:321,767
Rejected Votes:14,089
DELTA STATE
APC: 221,292
PDP: 594,068
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,719,313
Total No: of Accredited: 891,647
Total Votes Cast: 882,254
Total Valid Votes: 829,762
Rejected Votes: 52,492
BORNO STATE
APC: 836,496
PDP: 71,788
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,319,434
Total No: of Accredited: 987,290
Total Votes Cast: 955,205
Total Valid Votes: 919,786
Rejected Votes: 35,419
AKWA IBOM STATE
APC:175,429
PDP:395,832
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,119,727
Total No: of Accredited: 695,677
Total Votes Cast: 605,140
Total Valid Votes: 578,775
Rejected Votes: 26,365
CROSS RIVER STATE
APC: 117,302
PDP: 295,737
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,512,915
Total No: of Accredited: 461,033
Total Votes Cast: 446,046
Total Valid Votes: 421,901
Rejected Votes: 24,145
TARABA STATE
APC: 324,906
PDP:374,743
Total No: Reg Voters:1,777,105
Total No: of Accredited: 756,111
Total Votes Cast: 741,564
Total Valid Votes: 712,877
Rejected Votes: 28,687
KATSINA STATE
APC: 1,232,133
PDP: 308,056
Total No: Reg Voters:3,210,422
Total No: of Accredited:1,628,865
Total Votes Cast:1,619,185
Total Valid Votes:1,555,473
Rejected Votes:63,712
KANO STATE
APC:1,464,768
PDP: 391,593
Total No: Reg Voters:5,391,581
Total No: of Accredited:2,006,410
Total Votes Cast:1,964,751
Total Valid Votes:1,891,134
Rejected Votes:73,617
PLATEAU STATE
APC:468,555
PDP:548,665
Total No: Reg Voters:2,423,381
Total No: of Accredited:1,074,042
Total Votes Cast:1,062,862
Total Valid Votes:1,034,853
Rejected Votes:28,009
IMO STATE
APC: 140,463
PDP: 334,923
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,037,569
Total No: of Accredited: 585,741
Total Votes Cast: 542,777
Total Valid Votes: 511,586
Rejected Votes: 31,191
BENUE STATE
APC: 347,668
PDP: 356,817
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,391,276
Total No: of Accredited: 786,069
Total Votes Cast: 763,872
Total Valid Votes: 728,912
Rejected Votes: 34,960
EDO STATE
APC: 267,842
PDP: 275,691
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,150,127
Total No: of Accredited: 604,915
Total Votes Cast: 599,228
Total Valid Votes: 560,711
Rejected Votes: 38,517
OGUN STATE
APC: 281,762
PDP: 194,655
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,336,887
Total No: of Accredited: 613,397
Total Votes Cast: 605,938
Total Valid Votes: 564,256
Rejected Votes: 41,682
LAGOS STATE
APC: 580,825
PDP: 448,015
Total No: Reg Voters: 6,313,507
Total No: of Accredited: 1,196,490
Total Votes Cast: 1,156,590
Total Valid Votes: 1,089,567
Rejected Votes: 67,023
BAUCHI STATE
APC: 798,428
PDP: 209,313
Total No: Reg Voters:2,453,512
Total No: of Accredited:1,075,330
Total Votes Cast:1,061,955
Total Valid Votes:1,024,307
Rejected Votes:37,648
ADAMAWA STATE
APC: 378,078
PDP: 410,266
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,959,322
Total No: of Accredited:874,920
Total Votes Cast:860,756
Total Valid Votes:811,534
Rejected Votes:49,222
ANAMBRA STATE
APC: 33,298
PDP: 524,738
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,389,332
Total No: of Accredited: 675,273
Total Votes Cast: 625,035
Total Valid Votes:605,734
Rejected Votes:19,301
KADUNA STATE
APC: 993,445
PDP: 649,612
Total No: Reg Voters: 3,861,033
Total No: of Accredited: 1,757,868
Total Votes Cast: 1,709,005
Total Valid Votes: 1,663,603
Rejected Votes: 45,402
JIGAWA STATE
APC: 794,738
PDP: 289,895
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,104,889
Total No: of Accredited: 1,171,801
Total Votes Cast: 1,149,922
Total Valid Votes: 1,106,244
Rejected Votes: 43,678
NIGER STATE
APC: 612,371
PDP: 218,052
Total No: Reg Voters: 2,375,568
Total No: of Accredited: 911,964
Total Votes Cast: 896,976
Total Valid Votes: 851,937
Rejected Votes:45,039
EBONYI STATE
APC: 90,726
PDP: 258,573
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,392,931
Total No: of Accredited: 391,747
Total Votes Cast: 379,394
Total Valid Votes: 359,131
Rejected Votes: 20,263
ENUGU STATE
APC: 54,423
PDP: 355,553
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,935,168
Total No: of Accredited: 452,765
Total Votes Cast: 451,063
Total Valid Votes: 421,014
Rejected Votes: 30,049
YOBE STATE
APC: 497,914
PDP: 50,763
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,365,913
Total No: of Accredited: 601,059
Total Votes Cast: 586,137
Total Valid Votes: 559,365
Rejected Votes: 26,772
ABIA STATE
APC: 85,058
PDP: 219,698
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,793,861
Total No: of Accredited: 361,561
Total Votes Cast: 344,471
Total Valid Votes: 323,291
Rejected Votes: 21,180
ONDO STATE
APC:241,769
PDP:275,901
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,812,567
Total No: of Accredited: 598,586
Total Votes Cast: 586,827
Total Valid Votes: 555,994
Rejected Votes: 30,833
GOMBE STATE
APC: 402,961
PDP: 138,484
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,385,191
Total No: of Accredited: 604,240
Total Votes Cast: 580,649
Total Valid Votes: 554,203
Rejected Votes: 26,446
KOGI STATE
APC: 285,894
PDP: 218,207
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,640,449
Total No: of Accredited: 570,773
Total Votes Cast: 553,496
Total Valid Votes: 521,016
Rejected Votes: 32,480
NASARAWA STATE
APC: 289,903
PDP: 283,847
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,509,481
Total No: of Accredited: 613,720
Total Votes Cast: 599,399
Total Valid Votes: 580,778
Rejected Votes: 18,621
KWARA STATE
APC: 308,984
PDP: 138,184
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,401 895
Total No: of Accredited: 489,482
Total Votes Cast: 486,254
Total Valid Votes: 459,676
Rejected Votes: 26,578
FCT
APC: 152,224
PDP: 259,997
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,335,015
Total No: of Accredited: 467,784
Total Votes Cast: 451,408
Total Valid Votes: 423,951
Rejected Votes: 27,457
EKITI STATE
APC: 219,231
PDP: 154,032
Total No: Reg Voters: 899,919
Total No: of Accredited: 395,741
Total Votes Cast: 393,709
Total Valid Votes: 381,132
Rejected Votes: 12,577
OSUN STATE
APC: 347,634
PDP: 337,377
Total No: Reg Voters: 1,674,729
Total No: of Accredited: 732,984
Total Votes Cast: 731,882
Total Valid Votes: 714,682
Rejected Votes: 17200
