The candidate of the ruling party, Bola Tinubu was named the winner of Nigeria’s election on Wednesday, bringing a new president to the country.
Bola Tinubu, the politician long regarded as the “father of modern Lagos,” has won a close election to succeed Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s next president.
Tinubu, “having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” declared Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday morning.
The result of the presidential election
Tinubu, a 70-year-old senior politician, scored 37% of the votes, or almost 8.8 million, while Abubakar, the primary opposition candidate, received 29% of the votes, or nearly 7 million. According to the results revealed live on television by the Independent National Electoral Commission, the third-place finisher Obi won 25% of the vote with around 6.1 million votes. The losing parties criticized the election as a farce and requested a new vote.
You can also read: EU-UK reaches landmark post-Brexit agreement on the Northern Ireland
Mr. Tinubu won the majority of other states in his native region of the south-west, where he is known as a “political godfather” who helps elect others. In spite of this, he was defeated in the city by Mr. Obi, a relative newcomer who secured the support of a large number of young voters, particularly in urban areas, so shaking the country’s two-party system.
Celebrations had already begun late Tuesday inside the national secretariat of the ruling party, where Tinubu’s followers had gathered in expectation of his triumph. The announcement of his victory came around 4 a.m.
Tinubu to takeover an unstable country
President Muhammadu Buhari is leaving office after two terms marked by economic stagnation and rising insecurity throughout the country, ranging from an Islamic insurgency in the north-east to a statewide crisis of kidnappings for ransom and separatist strikes in the south-east.
Mr. Tinubu now has responsibility for addressing all of these issues in Africa’s most populous nation, which is the biggest oil exporter as well. He was always the favorite to replace Mr. Buhari, whom he assisted to become president, and the obstacles he has overcome to reach this stage will make this victory much sweeter.
He campaigned for the presidency under the slogan: “It’s my turn”.
“This is a serious mandate – I hereby accept it. To serve you… To work with you and make Nigeria great,” Tinubu said. “I take this opportunity to appeal to my fellow contestants to let us team up together,” Tinubu said. “It is the only nation we have. It is one country and we must build together,” he added.
Upon winning the presidential election, Bola Tinubu will have to immediately begin working to address the country’s mounting debt, oil theft, reverse economic downturn and the contentious gasoline subsidy that causes the country to lose significant amount of money from oil export.
Biography
Early life:
Nigerian politician Bola Ahmed Tinubu was born on March 29, 1952. He grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. He pursued his secondary school abroad after completing his elementary education in his own country. He went to Richard J. Daley College in Chicago, Illinois. Tinubu worked for numerous companies, including Arthur Andersen and Deloitte, upon his return to Nigeria.
Political career:
Tinubu entered into politics in the early 1990s by joining the social democratic party. He was elected to the Nigerian Senate in 1992 and again in 1999, representing the Lagos West constituency. Nonetheless, he was expelled from the country due to his participation in the Nigerian coup d’état of 1993.
In 1998, he again returned to his country. In 1999, he became the 12th governor of Lagos state after being thrust into the limelight for a number of reasons. Throughout his eight years of service to the state of Lagos, he oversaw the implementation of a number of key reforms and infrastructure projects. Tinubu’s crowning achievement was in 2015, when his Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) combined with Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to establish the All Progressives Party (APC), which deposed incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan.
Net worth and controversies:
Bola Tinubu is Nigeria’s wealthiest politician. He has a net worth of $4 billion. Several of Nigeria’s most successful corporations are under his control. In addition, he has a dominating influence over numerous major government institutions. The majority of Bola Tinubu’s wealth is derived from his ownership of oil producing companies, television and radio broadcasting companies, newspapers, amusement parks, and shopping malls, and others.
Many controversies arose as a result of Bola Tinubu’s massive net worth. He has been involved in numerous fraud, scam, and tax evasion incidents. He was accused in the bullion van controversy, money laundering, allegations of narcotics trafficking in the United States, and the Nigerian 160 billion tax fraud scam.
