The ruling party’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, was declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election early on Wednesday.
Shortly afterwards, he thanked his supporters and appealed to his rivals, who have been calling for a second vote in Africa’s most populous nation, to accept the result.
The announcement by election officials overnight would likely lead to a lawsuit by the second and third highest finishers in the weekend vote, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
Abubakar finished second in the 2019 polls and he appealed the results before his lawsuit was finally dismissed.
Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress party urged the opposition to accept defeat and not cause trouble after demanding they withdraw, saying delays in uploading election results had made room for irregularities.
Tinubu received nearly 8.8 million votes, or 37 percent, while the main opposition candidate, Abubakar, won 29 percent. In third place, Obi took 25 percent with about 6.1 million votes, according to results announced live on television by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
