LAGOS – Nigeria’s electoral commission said on Wednesday ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu had won last week’s presidential election.

According to final Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) tallies from all 36 states and the federal capital Abuja, Tinubu garnered about 36.6% or 8.79 million of valid votes counted from the weekend election, while Atiku trailed behind with 29.1% or 6.98 million of valid votes.

However, major opposition parties have complained of irregularities and rejected the result as fraudulent. There have been reports of violence and intimidation, although not on the scale of previous elections.

Eighteen candidates were running for president but only three were seen as having a realistic chance. They were Tinubu from the governing All Progressives Congress party (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the smaller Labour Party (LP).

A fourth contender, Rabiu Kwankwaso, of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), received votes in parts of the north.

Results from 176,846 polling stations were counted manually and were then to be relayed electronically to the INEC headquarters in Abuja, for posting on its website.

The results were also tallied at the ward, local government and state level. A returning officer from each state was to travel to Abuja with a tally sheet, to be compared against results sent directly by polling stations to the national collation centre.

To win the presidential election, a candidate needs a simple majority, and have at least a quarter of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 states and Abuja, which Tinubu did.

SOURCE: Reuters