Makes 25% cut-off mark in 34 states and FCT
President Muhammadu Buhari and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared the winner of the presidential election held on February 23.
Buhari polled a total of the 15,191,847 votes at the end of collation of results in Abuja to floor his main challenger and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Atiku Abubakar who received 11,262,978 to lose the election with a margin of 3,928,869 votes.
Announcing the results in the wee hours of Wednesday in Abuja, the chairman of the independent national Electoral Commission (INEC) and chief returning officer of the presidential election, said Buhari “having satisfied the requirements if the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared winner and is returned elected.”
Buhari won in 19 states of the federation and also satisfied the constitutional requirement of scoring 25 per cent in 34 states and the FCT.
He did not make the 25 per cent cut-off point in Enugu and Anambra states.
Atiku, on the other hand, won in 17 states of the federation and the FCT.
According to INEC, 29,364,209 votes were cast out of which 27,324,583 were valid while 1,289,607 votes were rejected.
Here is the winning pattern of the two contenders
The 19 states won by Buhari include Bauchi, Borno, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun and Yobe. Others are Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi.
Buhari won in Bauchi polling 798,428 votes to beat Atiku who scored 209,313 votes.
He also scored 836,496 to take Borno State ahead of Atiku who got 71,788 votes. In Ekiti State, Buhari scored 219, 231 votes, while Atiku polled 154, 032 votes.
In Gombe State, he won with 403,961 votes to Atiku’s 138,484 votes.
The president also won Jigawa State with 794, 738 votes to defeat the PDP candidate who had 289,895 votes.
Buhari polled 993,445 votes in Kaduna while Atiku garnered 649,612 votes.
The APC candidate won in all the 44 local government areas of Kano State to garner more than 1.4 million votes, while Atiku returned a distant second with 391,593 votes.
In Katsina, Buhari’s home state, the APC won with 1,232,133 votes to beat PDP candidate, who scored 308,056.
In Kogi State, Buhari scored 285,894 votes ahead of Atiku’s 218,207.
Buhari also took Kwara State with 308,984 votes, while Atiku scored 138,984 votes.
In Lagos State, Buhari won with a margin of 132,810 votes over Atiku, and winning in 15 of the 20 local government areas with an overall vote of 580,825.
Atiku won in the remaining five local government areas and came second with 448,015.
Buhari also defeated Atiku in Nasarawa State with 289,903 votes to 283, 847 votes.
In Yobe State, he polled 497,914 votes to beat Atiku who scored 50,763 votes.
The president scored 612,371 votes in Niger, where his main opponent polled 218,052 votes.
In Ogun, Buhari won with 281,762 votes as opposed to his closest rival’s 194,655.He also won in Osun State with 347, 634 votes.
Atiku won in 17 states and the FCT. The states are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Rivers.
He won in Adamawa State by polling 412, 266 votes to defeat President Buhari who scored 377,488.
In Abia State, the PDP candidate polled 219,698 votes to return Atiku ahead of Buhari’s 85,068 votes.
He defeated Buhari in Akwa Ibom State, winning in 28 of the 31 local government areas of the state while Buhari won in only two.
Elections did not take place in one Udung Uko local government of the state because of militant attack on INEC officials.
The PDP candidate scored 397,831 votes while Buhari got 175, 429 votes.
In Anambra, Atiku recorded clear victory by polling 524,738 votes to defeat Buhari who had 33,298 votes.
He won in Benue State with 355,355 votes against Buhari’s 347,668.
The PDP candidate also won in Ebonyi State with 258, 575 votes. Buhari was far behind with 90, 726 votes.
Atiku scored 275,691 votes to beat Buhari who scored 267,842 votes in Edo State.
In Enugu State, the PDP standard-bearer scored 355,553 votes to beat Buhari who got 54,423 votes.
Atiku also won in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), polling 259,995 votes to Buhari’s 152,224 votes.
Atiku scored 334, 923 votes in Oyo to defeat the president, who got 365,229 votes.
He also won in Plateau State after scoring 548,665 votes to Buhari’s 468, 555.
Atiku, in Taraba, got 374,743 votes to defeat Buhari, who polled 324,906 votes.
In Delta, Atiku won with 594,068 votes to Buhari’s 221,292 votes.
He also won in Rivers State with 473,971 votes, against Buhari’s 150,710 votes.
Atiku, in Bayelsa, polled 197,933 votes to beat Buhari, who got 118,820 votes.
He also won in Cross River 295,737 against Buhari’s 117,302.
While Buhari and Atiku jointly scored a total of 26, 454, 825, the 71 other presidential candidates jointly polled 869, 758.
The Total Valid Votes cast was given as 27, 324, 583, Total Rejected Votes stood at 1, 289, 607 and total votes cast stood at 28, 614, 190.
On the level of voter turnout, Yakubu placed the national average at 35.66 percent.
He said the commission would in days to come critically study the issues raised by the PDP and other parties regarding what they described as discrepancies in figures.
