Nigeria Decides: INEC Declares Bola Tinubu Winner Of 2023 Presidential Election

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.

Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rivals — Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) — who polled 6,984,520 and 6,101,533 votes respectively.

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) came fourth with 1,496,687 votes.

The INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced the results in the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at the National Collation Centre in Abuja.

“That Tinubu Bola Ahmed of the APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and returned elected,” Yakubu said.

The official declaration marked the end of days of collation of results from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Final Presidential Election Results (INEC Official Figures)

Key State Results

Some highlights from across Nigeria include:

• Lagos: APC – 572,606 | LP – 582,454

• Kano: APC – 517,341 | NNPP – 997,279

• Rivers: APC – 231,591 | LP – 175,071

• Delta: LP – 341,866 | PDP – 161,600 | APC – 90,183

• Plateau: LP – 466,272 | APC – 307,195 | PDP – 243,808

• Anambra: LP – 584,621 | PDP – 9,036 | APC – 5,111

Tinubu’s victory followed a tightly contested election marked by strong voter participation and diverse regional support patterns.

Reactions and Next Steps

Following the declaration, INEC said the president-elect would receive his Certificate of Return later in the day, while opposition parties are expected to decide on possible legal steps.

The election, which featured 18 political parties, was Nigeria’s seventh consecutive democratic presidential election since 1999.