Ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu was elected president of Nigeria on Wednesday morning in an opposition-contested ballot that raised hopes for change in Nigeria’s most populous country. Africa.
Bola Tinubu of the Progressives Congress (APC) garnered more than 8.8 million votes, or 36%, winning one of the most contested elections in Nigeria’s democratic history, according to the Electoral Commission (Inec). , once morest its two main competitors.
Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the main opposition party (the PDP, which ruled the country from 1999 to 2015), won 29% of the vote. Labor Party (LP) outsider Peter Obi, whose popularity with young people gave the campaign new impetus, won 25%.
Shortly following the results, Mr Tinubu’s supporters greeted him at his campaign headquarters, shouting “Jagaban” (the leader).
“It is an exceptional moment in the life of any man, and a confirmation of our democratic existence,” said Mr Tinubu.
“I call on my competitors to team up together. This is the only nation we have,” he told the opposition, who accused him of “massive” fraud and demanded annulment of this election.
“It’s a country that we must build together,” he told his rivals.
At 70, the former governor of Lagos (south-west), nicknamed “the godfather” because of his immense political influence, reaches the highest step of power, the ambition of a lifetime. “It’s my turn,” he kept repeating during the campaign.
In Lagos, a megalopolis of 20 million inhabitants, apart from small gatherings where young people exulted and waved the flags of the ruling party, life resumed its course on Wednesday.
“The country must move forward,” said Abiola Adesina, a 47-year-old driver who was delighted with Mr. Tinubu’s victory: “Yes, he is old, but he is open-minded and he will guarantee the ‘unity of our country’.
– “Disappointed” –
Bola Tinubu will succeed incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, 80, who is stepping down following two terms as required by the Constitution.
The latter hailed Mr. Tinubu’s victory on Twitter on Wednesday: “Elected by the people, he is the best person for this position.”
The outgoing president has admittedly recognized “flaws” in the electoral process, denounced by many observers, but for him, they in no way undermine the “regularity” of the ballot. “There is no doubt that the people’s decision was delivered in the results we see today,” he said.
He also asked opposition candidates “who feel the need to challenge him” to “go to the courts and not the streets”.
Because this victory leaves a bitter taste to a part of the youth, who had carried their hopes of change in the person of Peter Obi.
This 61-year-old former governor, seen as young and honest, had established himself as the candidate for a break with the aging Nigerian elite deemed to be corrupt.
“We are upset,” said Nikodemos Daniel, a 27-year-old motorcycle driver in Onitsha (southeast).
“Tinubu is one of the worst. He’s a corrupt and wicked man, I don’t trust him,” he said.
Mr. Tinubu’s political rise has been punctuated by numerous accusations of corruption, without him ever being convicted and which he has always denied.
– Election “simulacrum” –
Nigeria – 216 million inhabitants – should become the third most populous country in the world by 2050, in a West Africa threatened by democratic decline and the spread of jihadist violence.
The continent’s leading economy has become a global cultural power, thanks in particular to Afrobeats, a musical genre that is setting the planet on fire with stars like Burna Boy.
But Mr. Tinubu will mostly inherit a myriad of problems. For four years, he will have the heavy task of redressing the English-speaking giant, weighed down by a flagging economy, recurrent violence by armed groups and bandits, as well as a general impoverishment of the population.
Long given a big favorite in this election, this Yorouba of Muslim faith had however seen his lead shrink as the campaign progressed.
Due to the growing popularity of Peter Obi, then serious shortages which aggravated the already great anger of Nigerians once morest the government, with its disastrous balance sheet, between explosion of insecurity and the cost of living.
More than 87 million voters were called to the polls on Saturday and the vote, whose turnout is not yet known, was generally calm.
Since the return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria has held seven national elections, almost all of which have been contested.
