Ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party candidate Bola Tinubu has been declared the winner of Nigeria’s disputed presidential election.
The 70-year-old veteran politician got 36% of the vote, official results show.
His main rival Atiku Abubakar polled 29%, and Labour’s Peter Obi 25%. Their parties had earlier dismissed the poll as a sham, and demanded a rerun.
Mr Tinubu is one of Nigeria’s richest politicians, and based his campaign on his record of rebuilding the biggest city, Lagos, when he was governor.
He was nevertheless defeated in the city by Mr Obi, a relative newcomer who mobilised the support of many young people, especially in urban areas, shaking up the country’s two-party system.
Mr Tinubu won most other states in his home region of the south-west, where he is known as a “political godfather”.
He campaigned for the presidency under the slogan: “It’s my turn”.
After fighting military rule in Nigeria, escaping into exile and being one of the founding members of the country’s democracy in 1999, Mr Tinubu will feel that he was destined to become president.
