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Presidential election: Buhari receives certificate of return

Ezekiel Johnson
Ezekiel Johnson
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Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has received the  Certificate of Return as the President-Elect, having emerged as the winner of the 2019 presidential election held on Saturday.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also received his Certificate of Return as the Vice President-Elect.

The certificates were presented to them by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, at an event organised for that purpose.

The president was accompanied by his wife, Aisha while Osinbajo was also accompanied by his wife, Dolapo.

Held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, which served as the final collation centre of the results of the election across the country, the event was attended by prominent Nigerians.

Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, emerged the winner of the election which was keenly contested.

The announcement of his victory was made Yakubu, at 4.39 a.m. on Wednesday.

Buhari polled 15,191,847 votes to defeat the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, rival, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who polled 11,262,978 votes.

The difference in the votes is 3,928,869.

Buhari won 19 states while Atiku won 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

“I, Professor Mahmood Yakubu hereby certify that I was the returning officer for the election held on the 23rd of February, 2019.

“That Muhammadu Buhari having satisfied the requirements of the law, having scored the highest number of votes is hereby returned elected,” Yakubu declared.

Atiku has since reacted to the declaration of Buhari as the winner of the contest.

He vowed to challenge the declaration in court, alleging the election was fraught with malpractices.

He however appealed to his supporters to be calm as he pledged that democracy would not be emasculated.

“With regards to the Presidential elections that took place on February 23, 2019, it is clear that there were manifest and premeditated malpractices in many states which negate the results announced.

“One obvious red flag is the statistical impossibility of states ravaged by the war on terror generating much higher voter turnouts than peaceful states. The suppressed votes in my strongholds are so apparent and amateurish, that I am ashamed as a Nigerian that such could be allowed to happen. How can total votes in Akwa-Ibom, for instance, be 50% less than what they were in 2015?

“Another glaring anomaly is the disruption of voting in strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and diverse other states, with the authorities doing little or nothing and in some cases facilitating these unfortunate situations.”

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