Ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of Nigeria's presidential election early Wednesday, amid calls from the opposition for a rerun in Africa's largest democracy. The 2023 Nigerian presidential election was held on 25 February 2023 to elect the president and vice president of Nigeria. Bola Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State and nominee of the All Progressives Congress won the election with 36.61% of the vote, just under 8.8 million votes to defeat over runners-up former vice president Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party) and former governor of Anambra State Peter Obi (Labour Party). Other federal elections, including elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate, held on the same date while state elections were held on 18 March.The inauguration was held on 29 May 2023.
Party primaries were conducted between 4 April and 9 June 2022 with the Peoples Democratic Party nominating Abubakar on 28 May while the All Progressives Congress nominated Tinubu on 8 June. For the Labour Party and New Nigeria Peoples Party, Obi was nominated on 30 May and former Governor of Kano State Rabiu Kwankwaso was nominated on 8 June, respectively.
In the weeks after the primaries, vice presidential running mates were announced with Abubakar choosing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on 16 June while his main opponents initially selected placeholder running mates before later substituting in substantive nominees.
Obi selected former Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed on 8 July, Tinubu picked Senator Kashim Shettima on 10 July, and Kwankwaso chose pastor Isaac Idahosa on 14 July.
Issues surrounding the election included corruption, insecurity, the state of the economy, and national unity. Additionally, there was considerable focus on the impact of identity — ethnic, regional, and religious — throughout the campaign.
The general election was noted by initially high projected turnout and lack of a peaceful voting process. It was marred by reports of vote buying, voter intimidation, attacks on polling units in certain areas, and unpunctual electoral officials along with accusations of outright fraud;to compound issues with trust in the election, Independent National Electoral Commission officials failed to upload polling unit results to the INEC result viewing portal as previously assured would happen on election day.
As state results started to be announced on 26 February at the national collation centre in Abuja, opposition emerged as results data had still not been fully uploaded prior to their announcement in accordance with the law.
These circumstances along with statements critical of INEC from observers and civil society groups led the Abubakar, Obi, and Kwankwaso campaigns to question and then officially reject the announced election results by 28 February.
All three main opposition campaigns, in addition to some civil society groups and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, called on the commission to rerun the election due to fraud and violence.
Meanwhile, the Tinubu campaign praised the commission and called for the arrest of PDP spokesmen for "incitement of violence."
In the early morning of 1 March, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu declared Tinubu as the victor after all state results were collated. In response, Abubakar, Obi, and Kwankwaso rejected and vowed to challenge the results.
The President of Nigeria is elected using a modified two-round system with up to three rounds. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive a plurality of the national vote and over 25% of the vote in at least 24 of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round is held between the top candidate and the candidate winning the second-highest number of states. To win in the second round, a candidate must still receive the most votes nationally and over 25% of the vote in at least 24 of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. If neither candidate passes this threshold, a third round is held where a simple majority of the national vote is required to be elected.
