Nigeria Decides: Buhari set to win the presidential election

Emmanuel AmudaFebruary 26, 2019

0 4 minutes read

With officials results in from 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory, President Muhammadu Buhari is leading in the presidential election with over three million votes.

The results showed that Mr Buhari has so far garnered about 13,563,977 votes to clearly move ahead of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, who has so far polled about 10,236,469 votes.

Although only 27 states including Abuja had been announced at the INEC headquarters in Abuja as at the time of this report, many more states including Rivers and Bayelsa have been announced at the INEC collation centres in the respective states.

Elections are also yet to hold in many local governments and polling units in some states, a factor that could further influence or delay the results.

The PDP has, however, rejected the announced results, saying it does not reflect the votes that were cast across the country.

Result

Of the 33 states whose results have been formally announced so far, Mr Buhari has won in 16 states. The states are Bauchi, Borno, Ekiti, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun and Yobe.

Mr Abubakar has also won in 17 states and the FCT. The states are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers.

The performances of the two leading candidates show that Mr Buhari has won most of the states in the Northern half of the country while Mr Abubakar won all but three of three of the states in the south.

States Buhari has won

Mr Buhari won in Bauchi as he polled 798,428 votes to beat the PDP candidate who scored 209,313 votes.

The APC flag bearer also scored 836,496 to take Borno State ahead of his PDP opponent who got 71,788 votes.

President Buhari won Ekiti State with 219, 231 votes. Mr Abubakar polled 154, 032 votes in the South-west state.

In Gombe State, Mr Buhari won with 403,961 votes to Mr Abubakar’s 138,484 votes.

The president also won Jigawa State with 794, 738 votes to defeat Mr Abubakar who had 289,895 votes

In Kaduna, Mr Buhari polled 993,445 votes while Mr Abubakar garnered 649,612 votes.

The APC candidate won in all the 44 local government areas of Kano State to amass over 1.4 million votes. Mr Abubakar returned a distant second with 391,593 votes.

In his home state of Katsina, Mr Buhari won with 1,232,133 votes to Mr Abubakar of the PDP, who scored 308,056 votes.

In Kogi State, President Buhari scored 285,894 votes to return ahead of Mr Abubakar who polled 218,207 votes.

Mr Buhari also took Kwara State with 308,984 votes. Mr Abubakar scored 138,984 votes in the state.

In Lagos State, Mr Buhari won with a margin of 132,810 votes over Mr Abubakar. He won in 15 of the 20 local government areas in the state with an overall vote of 580,825.

Mr Abubakar won the remaining five local government areas and returned second with 448,015.

Mr Buhari also edged Mr Abubakar in Nasarawa State with 289,903 votes to his opponent’s 283, 847 votes.

In Yobe State, Mr Buhari polled 497,914 votes to beat Mr Abubakar who scored 50,763 votes.

The president scored 612,371 votes in Niger State. Here, Mr Abubakar polled 218,052 votes.

In Ogun, Mr Buhari won with 281,762 votes. His closest rival, Mr Abubakar polled 194,655 votes.

He also won in Osun State with 347, 634 votes to Mr Abubakar’s 337, and 377 votes.

States won by Atiku Abubakar

Mr Abubakar won Adamawa State by polling 412, 266 votes to defeat President Buhari who scored 377,488.

In Abia State, Mr Abubakar polled 219,698 votes to return ahead of Mr Buhari who had 85,068 votes.

The challenger defeated President Buhari in Akwa Ibom State, winning in 28 of the 31 local government areas of the state. Mr Buhari won in only two. Elections did not take place in one local government area, Udung Uko, because of a militant attack on INEC officials.

The PDP candidate scored 397,831 votes while his APC challenger, Mr Buhari, got 175,429 votes.

In Anambra, Mr Abubakar recorded a landslide victory by polling 524,738 votes to defeat President Buhari who had 33,298 votes.

He won in Benue State with 355,355 votes against Mr Buhari’s 347,668.

The PDP candidate also won in Ebonyi State with 258, 575 votes. Mr Buhari was far behind with 90, 726 votes.

Mr Abubakar scored 275,691 votes to beat Mr Buhari who scored 267,842 votes in Edo State.

In Enugu State, the PDP flag bearer scored 355,553 votes to beat Mr Buhari who got 54,423 votes.

Mr Abubakar also won in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), polling 259,995 votes to President Buhari’s 152,224 votes.

Mr Abubakar polled 334, 923 votes in Oyo to edge Mr Buhari who secured 365,229 votes.

The challenger won in Plateau State after scoring 548,665 votes to Mr Buhari’s 468, 555 votes.

In Taraba State, Mr Abubakar polled 374, 743 votes to emerge winner ahead of Mr Buhari who polled 324,906 votes.

In Delta State, Mr Abubakar won with 594,068 votes to Mr Buhari’s 221,292 votes.

He also won in Rivers State with 473,971 votes while Mr Buhari got 150,710 votes.

In Bayelsa State, Mr Abubakar polled a total of 197,933 votes to beat Mr Buhari of APC who polled 118,820 votes.

The remaining states where the results are awaiting collation are Zamfara, Cross River, and Kebbi. None of these three states is among the states with the highest registered voters.

However, with a national voter turnout below 40 per cent so far, the margin of victory in the three remaining states is not expected to stop Mr Buhari from winning the election.