Feb. 27 (BBC/GNA) – A third-party candidate in Nigeria’s tightly contested presidential election has caused a major upset by winning in its biggest city, Lagos, results from state election officials show.
The Labour Party’s Peter Obi narrowly defeated the ruling party’s Bola Tinubu in his heartland, they say.
This is the first time since 1999 that a party backed by Mr Tinubu, a two-time Lagos governor, has not won the state.
But Mr Tinubu has won three of the five other states declared so far.
He also won in his south-western strongholds of Ondo, Ekiti and Kwara, narrowly losing to Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun state.
Mr Abubakar has also narrowly won the presidential election in Katsina, the home state of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari.
The results from Ekiti, Kwara, Ondo and Osun have all been confirmed by the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) at its headquarters in the capital, Abuja, however the other results remain provisional.
Mr Obi’s apparent victory in Lagos, though a major breakthrough for a third-party candidate, is not necessarily a huge surprise. The city is home to many young, educated people, as well as a large Igbo community – all groups widely seen as backing his presidential bid.
But with 30 states and the capital, Abuja, still to declare, it remains far too soon who might be elected Nigeria’s next president.
The delays in getting results from the states and Abuja have led to growing frustration.
The electoral commission has apologised for the unresponsiveness of the results viewing page on its website, saying a surge in use caused technical hitches.
However, the PDP has said it wants results from all polling stations to be displayed at the collation centre in Abuja.
Dino Melaye, the party’s representative at Inec headquarters in Abuja, said that the electoral law mandates Inec to transmit the results to its website via the electronic device used to accredit voters on election day.
“We are not here to rubberstamp fraud,” he said in a heated argument as the Inec chairman and others watched on.
The delays are partly a result of the election continuing for a second day in parts of the country.
The election on Saturday saw voting start several hours late in many areas, and also attacks on some polling stations.
More than 87 million people were eligible to take part, making it the biggest democratic exercise in Africa.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP have dominated Nigeria since the end of military rule in 1999 but this time, Mr Obi from the previously little known Labour Party is expected to mount a strong challenge to the two-party system. He has the support of many young people, who make up a third of registered voters.
A candidate needs to have the most votes and a quarter of ballots cast in 25 of the 36 states plus Abuja to be declared the winner.
Otherwise, there will be a run-off within 21 days – a first in Nigeria’s history.
GNA/Credit: BBC