The United States (US) government under President Joe Biden has congratulated Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Nigeria’s president-elect.
The US State Department spokesman, Ned Price, on Wednesday while congratulating Nigeria on the election of the APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu, described the election as a competitive poll that represents a new period for Nigerian democracy and politics.
“The United States congratulates the people of Nigeria, president-elect Tinubu and all the political leaders,” Price said.
He added, “This competitive election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy.
“We understand that many Nigerians and some of the parties have expressed frustration about the manner in which the process was conducted and the shortcomings of technical elements that were used for the first time in a presidential election cycle in Nigeria.
“We join other international observers in urging INEC to improve in the areas that need the most attention ahead of the March 11 gubernatorial elections.”
Recall that Tinubu was declared the winner of the February 25 polls in the early hours of Wednesday.
He defeated the main opposition candidates, PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Peter Obi.
The APC candidate polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat fellow contenders – Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 6,984,520 votes, Labour Party’s Peter Obi had 6,101,533 votes to come third and candidate of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, who polled 1,496,687 votes to place a distant fourth.
Of the 36 states and FCT, Tinubu, Obi and Atiku won 12 states each while Kwankwaso won only Kano State.
The 12 states won by Tinubu are Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Benue, Rivers, Borno, Zamfara, Jigawa, Ondo, Kogi, and Niger.
Atiku of the PDP won Taraba, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe, Bayelsa, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe and Katsina States.
Obi won the following states of Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Anambra, Abia, Delta, Edo, FCT, Plateau, Nasarawa, Lagos, and Cross River.
