By KEMI KASUMU
As The DEFENDER concludes its converge and reports of 2023 presidential and national assembly elections in Nigeria, it reports that declared winner of the keenly contested yet controversial election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been presented his Certificate of Return as President-elect of Africa’s most populous country.
The certificate was presented to him by Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, at the International Conference Centre, Abuja the nation’s capital on Wednesday.
His running mate Kashim Shettima also got his Certificate of Return at the event.
The presentation came a few hours after Tinubu was declared the winner of Saturday, February 25 poll, garnering 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest rival, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, who scored 6,984,520.
Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer, took his first shot at the presidency for the first time in a keenly contested race.
The 70-year-old former Lagos Governor came out top in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states and secured significant numbers in several other states to claim the highest number of votes
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, 76, who has now run for president six times, got 6,984,520 votes, while the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Dr. Peter Obi, who, in less than a year, galvanised young voters in a manner some have described as unprecedented finished the race with 6,101,533.
