Nigeria election results 2023: Peter Obi wins Lagos against Bola Tinubu – provisional

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.

Mr Tinubu is a former governor of Lagos state and hopes to use his record there as the basis of his presidential bid.

The result still has to be confirmed by the head of the election commission.

However, Mr Tinubu has accepted defeat in Lagos and said that as a Democrat, he was bound to accept the outcome of any election.

“People have a right to vote for the candidate of their choice,” he said in a statement released by his campaign team.

He also appealed for calm from his supporters after his loss, following reports of violence in parts of Lagos against traders from the Igbo community, like Mr Obi.

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 population – all groups are widely seen as backing his campaign.

Why the Labour Party was not on some ballot papers
Mr Tinubu has however won five other states in his south-western strongholds – Ekiti, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo and Oyo.

While Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has won Osun state, his home state of Adamawa, as well as Katsina, where outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari comes from. He has also won in the south-eastern Akwa-Ibom state.

The results from Ekiti, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo have 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.

But with 26 states and the capital, Abuja, still, to declare, it remains far too soon who might be elected Nigeria’s next president.

Media caption,
Bina was hit with a sharp object while she was waiting to vote in Lagos

Rights group Amnesty International has urged Nigerian authorities to investigate what it described as widespread violence unleashed on voters in parts of Lagos, Rivers, Kano, Edo and Delta states over the weekend.

“Those behind attacks on voters, journalists and electoral officials must be brought to justice through fair trials,” the group said.

The delay in getting results has led to growing frustration.

The electoral commission has apologised for the unresponsiveness of the results viewing the page on its website, saying a surge in use caused technical hitches.

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. There are 15 other candidates.

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.

Problems with the electronic voter system

The earliest a winner has been announced is on the third day after voting in the previous two elections, but many had expected a faster conclusion this time because of the introduction of an electronic result transmission system, known as Bvas.

This was meant to increase transparency and make sure the results could not be altered by creating a digital version on the website of the electoral commission, Inec.

But many voters have accused electoral officials of refusing to upload the results at the polling units as they are supposed to.

Officials complained of a lack of internet in some places to upload the results, but voters have shared videos and images shared where Inec officials refused to upload the results.

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.

There have also been reports of disturbances at Inec collation centres in some states, with some political parties on Sunday asking their supporters to go to such places to protect their votes.