The Presidential candidate of the APC, Gen. Buhari, is on the verge of being declared winner of the presidential election held last Saturday throughout Nigeria

•Muhammadu-Buhari

The Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, General Muhammadu Buhari, is on the verge of being declared winner of the presidential election held last Saturday throughout Nigeria.

It was the fourth time Buhari would contest to govern Nigeria. He had failed three times, but his efforts are being crowned at the fourth attempt, 30 years after he was toppled in a military coup in August 1985.

By 1 pm today, with results from 26 states and Abuja  officially declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission,  Buhari was leading the incumbent President and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Goodluck Jonathan, with  about a million votes.
With results from 10 other states, such as Bauchi, Benue, Yobe, Adamawa, Kebbi, Zamfara, Borno, Taraba, most of which are strongholds of Buhari, it is projected that Buhari will end up beating Jonathan with close to 4 million votes. Jonathan is only expected to have a strong showing in Edo and  Delta states.

At the moment, the tallies from 26 states, show Buhari having  10,996,049 votes. Jonathan has 10,105, 683 votes.

The states are Ekiti, Ogun, Enugu, Kogi, Osun, Ondo, Abuja, Oyo, Nasarawa, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kwara, Kaduna, Anambra, Abia, Imo, Plateau, Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Niger, Bayelsa, Gombe, Cross River, Rivers, Sokoto and Lagos.

Buhari did well in the North Western states and South Western states of Nigeria, while Jonathan kept tightly to his South South and South East fortress, completely shutting out Buhari, except in Imo, where Buhari scored 133,253 votes to Jonathan’s 559, 185.

Going by the results, both candidates have fulfilled the constitutional requirement of having 25 per cent in two thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states.

But the General from Daura in Katsina State appears poised to beat the incumbent on the plurality of votes.

His expected victory is historic. It is the first time that an opposition candidate would wrest power from an incumbent.

Buhari, who will soon be declared president-elect,  is the candidate of a coalition of groups that in 2013 fused to become the All Progressives Congress. The new party was made up of Action Congress, with base in western Nigeria, the CPC, in northern Nigeria, a faction of APGA and  a breakaway faction of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, who abandoned the PDP because of sharp disagreements with President Goodluck Jonathan, on the handling of the party and Nigeria’s affairs.

Nigeria’s president-elect was born  in Daura, Katsina state on  17 December, 1942.

After graduation at Government College in Katsina in 1961, Buhari joined the army and rose to become a Major-General. He served as Governor of the North East state, petroleum minister and became Nigeria’s military leader after the 31 December coup that toppled the civilian administration of Shehu Shagari.

In August 1985, Buhari was toppled in another coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida.

In retirement, he served as chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund under the Abacha regime.

When Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999, General Buhari offered himself for service thrice before now, but he was rejected at the polls.

The man with a reputation for anti-corruption and discpline and a near ascetic life has finally got his mission fulfilled.

INEC Result

STATE           JONATHAN (PDP)    BUHARI (APC)

LAGOS             632,327                             792,460

OGUN              207,950                             308,290

ONDO              299,889                              251,368

OSUN              249,929                              383,603

OYO                 303,376                              528,620

KWARA           132,602                              302,146

NIGER             149,222                              667,678         

KEBBI             100,972                              568,020

ZAMFARA       80,781                              349,868

SOKOTO         152,199                               671,926

KADUNA      484,085                             1,127,760

FCT                  157,195                               146,399

KOGI              149,987                               264,851

EDO               286,869                              208,469

DELTA          205,256                                    5,331

BAYELSA      361,209                                   5,194

RIVERS      1,468,075                                69,238

IMO                559,185                               133,253

ANAMBRA   660,762                                 17,926

EBONYI        322,663                                 19,518         

BENUE            73,738                                86,030    

NASSARAWA     273,460                       236,838

PLATEAU             549,615                       429,140

KANO                    215,779                     1,903,999

KATSINA               98,937                      1,345,441

JIGAWA               142,904                        885,988

BAUCHI                 113,912                        686,646

TARABA                 171,570                         125,340

ENUGU                 553,003                            14,157

CROSS RIVER     414,863                          28,368

AKWA IBOM       953,304                           58,411

GOMBE                  96,873                         361,245

ABIA                     368,303                           13,394

YOBE                       19,010                        282,504        

ADAMAWA         156,000                        226,735

BORNO                  26,098                        747,094

EKITI                    176,466                          120,331