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News > Nigeria

Nigeria's Buhari Reelected For 2nd Term After Low Voter Turnout

  • Buhari’s APC earned 15.2 million votes and won 19 states.

    Buhari’s APC earned 15.2 million votes and won 19 states. | Photo: Reuters

Published 27 February 2019
Opinion

The electoral commission declared that the Nigerian president was victorious with 56% of the vote after ballot boxes from all 36 states were counted.

Following presidential elections results Tuesday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari was declared the winner for a second term, Reuters has reported.

RELATED: 
Nigeria: Early Tally Shows Buhari in Lead, Opposition Rejects

“Muhammadu Buhari of the APC (All Progressives Congress), having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner,” Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told election officials and reporters early Wednesday.

“I met the very hardworking members of our team, many of them young people, and was briefed on the performance of our party so far in the Presidential Elections. I am very proud of what has been accomplished,” Buhari posted on Twitter.

The electoral commission declared that the Nigerian president was victorious with 56% of the vote after ballot boxes from all 36 states were counted.

The voter turnout was about 35%, down from 44% in 2015.

“The numbers alone are indicting. We have already witnessed a record number of canceled votes – more than double the numbers from the previous poll – and which is only a reflection of the widespread irregularities across every part of the country. We all observed as thugs had a field day unleashing terror on demographically profiled voters, which led to the suppressed turnout that has been recorded,” Adewunmi Emoruwa of The Election Network said.

Buhari’s APC earned 15.2 million votes and won 19 states to edge out Atiku Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party’s 11.3 million and 17 states.

However, the opposition People’s Democratic party has rejected the results.

“I’m not aware of any meeting of the PDP legal team, but I know there are concerns laid to the INEC [electoral commission] chairman, based on promises he made to Nigerians on the conduct of the elections,” Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP spokesman, said. “When he addresses those concerns, then we will know what to do.”

The election, which was delayed by a week, has been plagued by violence, accusations of vote-buying, multiple failures of accreditation card readers and extremist attacks. Buhari also controversially suspended a justice ahead of the polls.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and top oil producer.

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