How 18 presidential candidates shared 25.3 million votes

In the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission and returning officer of the 2023 presidential election, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, declared the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, as the winner of the keenly contested election which was held on Saturday, February 25.

Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi came second and third respectively in a contest that saw both of them win in 12 states each, just like the President-elect, Tinubu.

According to INEC’s data, 93.5 million eligible voters registered to participate in the election, out of which only 25.3 million participated and had their votes count.

Eighteen political parties fielded candidates for the nation’s top job and below is how they shared the 25.3 million valid votes in the election.

Candidate name          Party            Total votes

Imumolen Christopher            A         61,014

Hamza Al-Mustapha   AA            14,542

Omoyele Sowore        AAC            14,608

Dumebi Kachikwu      ADC            81,919

Yabagi Sani Yusuf      ADP            43,924

Bola Tinubu    APC            8,794,726

Peter Umeadi  APGA            61,966

Princess Ojei Chichi   APM            25,961

Charles Nnadi APP            12,839

Sunday Adenuga         BP            16,156

Peter Obi         LP            6,101,533

Rabiu Kwankwaso            NNPP  1,496,687

Felix Johnson  NRM            24,869

Atiku Abubakar          PDP            6,984,520

Kola Abiola    PRP            72,144

Adewole Adebayo      SDP            80,267

AAbdul-Malik Ado-Ibrahim            YPP            60,600

Dan Nwanyanwu        ZLP            77,665

(The PUNCH)