(Agencies):  Nigeria’s ruling party candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been declared the winner of the country’s presidential elections.

Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, garnered 8.7 million votes in the race held from Feb. 25-26, according to Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Tinubu got 8.79 million votes, ahead of main opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar’s 6.98 million votes. Peter Obi, an outsider popular with younger voters, garnered 6.1 million votes.

Over decades, the former two-term governor of Lagos has evolved into a divisive yet towering figure in Nigerian politics. The wealthy, so-called political godfather is a power broker who helped outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari win the presidency in 2015, according to npr.org.

He won just over 36% of the vote in one of the most tightly contested polls since the end of military rule. He lost in his home state but won by a clear margin in the rest of the country defeating 76-year-old Atiku Abubakar, a six–time presidential contestant, and 61-year-old Peter Obi, a third–party candidate who galvanized huge support from voters disaffected with the traditional political class.

The main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar received 6.9 million votes while Labor Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi got 6.1 million, reports AA.

Mr Tinubu won the election in Rivers, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states.

Atiku won in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states. He also won in Osun, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states.

Mr Obi won in Edo, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia and Enugu states.

Mr Kwankwaso won in only Kano State.

In Nigeria, which has a population of around 206 million, 18 candidates vied for the presidency.

[Photo: The candidate of ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Tinubu [now declared President] and his wife Oluremi Tinubu cast their votes at a polling station during the general election in Lagos, Nigeria on February 25, 2023. Photojournalist :Emmanuel Osodi/AA]