Bola Tinubu declared Nigeria president: electoral commission

Bola Tinubu from Nigeria's ruling party won the country's presidential election, the country's electoral authority said in the early hours of Wednesday morning

The election was held over the weekend and the results have been disputed by the two main opposition candidates.

Tinubu is from the All Progressives Congress — the party of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari — and won 8.8 million votes, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He is the former governor of Lagos.

Meanwhile, the INEC said Peoples Democratic Party candidate Atiku Abubakar came second with 6.9 million votes.

Labour Party candidate Peter Obi, who scored a major upset in Tinubu's home state of Lagos, came third with 6.1 million votes.

According to Nigerian electoral law, the candidate with the most votes can automatically be declared the winner if they also receive 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 36 states and the federal capital Abuja, which Tinubu managed to achieve.

Voting delays criticized

Voting in Africa's largest democracy was largely peaceful but plagued by long delays at many polling stations, which contributed to the slow release of results over several days.

Abubakar and Obi alleged that vote count was manipulated and have called for fresh elections, but Nigeria's electoral commission dismissed these claims.

"Contrary to the insinuation by both parties, results emanating from the states point to a free, fair and credible process," the INEC said.