Results of Nigeria's Presidential Election

Source:  http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/ 

Date:  March 3, 2023

Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 683

RESULTS OF NIGERIA'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
by Elizabeth Kendal

Bola Tinubu (centre) celebrates with supporters 
APC party campaign headquarters. (AP: Ben Curtis)
abc.net.au 1 March 2023

On Wednesday 1 March, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) had won the presidential election, with 37 percent of the vote. He also secured, as required, at least 25 percent of the votes in at least 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states.

This has created widespread confusion among analysts who have assumed (and widely reported) that to win in the first round, a candidate would need to secure a majority of the vote – as is normal in democracies around the world – and at least 25 percent of the votes in at least 24 of Nigeria’s 36 states. A quote to this effect was included in RLPB 678, The Candidates, 1 Feb 2023.

However, this assumption was incorrect.

CORRECTION: the winning candidate does NOT need to win a majority of the vote!

According to Nigeria's 1999 Constitution:

Article 134

(2) A candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being more than two candidates for the election -

(a) he has the highest number of votes cast at the election;

and

(b) he has not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Therefore, Bola Tinubu (APC) – who ran on a Muslim-Muslim ticket – has been declared the winner with 36.61 percent of the vote; the majority vote being split between Atiku Abubakar (PDP) who won 29.07 percent; Peter Obi (Labour) who won 25.40 percent; and Rabi’u Kwankwaso (NNPP) who won 6.23 percent (essentially sweeping his home state of Kano).

According to the INEC, Bola Tinubu (APC) also won at least 25 percent of the vote in 29 states; compared to Atiku Abubakar (PDP) who won at least 25 percent in 21 states, and Peter Obi (Labour), who won at least 25 percent in 16 states.

The voter turnout of 27 percent is the lowest in Nigeria’s history.

For a run-down of the results see Stears.co
https://www.stears.co/article/3-takeaways-from-nigerias-2023-presidential-election/

Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar will contest the results in court.

Tensions are running high.

Please continue to pray for the Church in Nigeria.