Official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission confirm that the Labour candidate, Peter Obi, has won in Lagos state with 582,454 votes.
He was followed by the APC’s Bola Tinubu, who got 572,606 votes.
This result is a blow for the Tinubu camp, given that Tinubu is regarded as a powerful figure in Lagos, having previously served as its governor from 1999 to 2007.
Tinubu Reacts To Defeat In Lagos
The former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu remarked that the victory Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi had in the state shows the beauty of democracy.
Tinubu cautioned his followers to be calm and maintain peace, saying Obi’s victory in Lagos should not be a source of provocation.
“The APC candidate further said that as a democrat, he is bound to accept the outcome of any election whether favourable or not,” read a statement by the Director, Media & Publicity of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga.
Tinubu also expressed serious concern over reports of violence in parts of the state especially reported attacks on some traders of the Igbo origin.
The former Lagos State Governor condemned any form of violence against people of any ethnic group in Lagos.
“The fact that the APC narrowly lost Lagos State to another party should not be the reason for violence. As a democrat, you win some, you lose some. We must allow the process to continue unhindered across the country while we maintain peace and decorum,” the statement noted.
Though Tinubu won 11 local government areas in the state, Obi won the overall votes in the state, with a landslide victory in nine powerful local governments with numerical strength including Alimosho, Ojo and Oshodi-Isolo, Kosofe, Amuwo Odofin, amongst others.
The accredited votes in the state were 1,347,452, the total valid votes were 1,271,451, rejected votes were 64,278 and the total votes cast were1,335,729.
Opposition Agents Stage Walkout During Result Collation In Abuja
Two agents of the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, stormed out of the National Collation Centre for the presidential election results at the International Conference Centre in Abuja on Monday, February 27, 2023.
A member of the 8th National Assembly from Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye; and a former Governor of Imo State, Emeka Ihedioha; an agent of the Labour Party, amongst others staged a walkout on the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu over dissatisfaction on the process of the collation of results from state collation officers for the presidential election (SCOPs).
Melaye, Ihedioha, as well as the agents of the Labour Party and others, had complained that the results presented by INEC SCOPs were not uploaded on the commission’s Results Viewing Portal (IReV), as repeatedly promised by the electoral body before the February 25 presidential poll.
Melaye argued strongly that without the upload of results electronically on IReV, this year’s election is not in any way different from the manual transmission of results done in 2015.
Melaye and others fiercely insisted that the INEC Chairman must not accept the results of Ekiti, alleging that there were incidents of over voting and electoral irregularities.
They contended that the collation of results at the centre is at variance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and that they do not believe in the results presented by the SCOPs.
However, the INEC Chairman maintained that there was no over voting in Ekiti and that the results presented by the SCOPs stand. Yakubu also said the process must continue.
In reaction, Melaye, Ihedioha and others stormed out of the national collation centre.
Earlier, Mahmood had cautioned Melaye not to be “disruptive” of the collation process at the insistence of the PDP chieftain that the results announced by the SCOPs should first have been uploaded on IReV for transparency and accountability.
The collation of results in Abuja has since continued in their absence.
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