Bola Ahmed Tinubu: How Kingmaker Became President

Obi’s relatively unknown Labour Party galvanised the interest of young, urban dwellers By Olayinka Oyegbile Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Nigeria, has been declared winner of the country’s keenly contested presidential election. The 70-year-old former governor of Lagos State and Nigeria’s political kingmaker will inherit a Nigeria that is faced with a fractured polity, national security threats and economic challenges including skyrocketing cost of living. Tinubu polled 36%  of the 24,965,218 votes cast in the 25 February presidential election whose outcome is being disputed by his closest rivals. To emerge as Nigeria’s President, Section 134 of the constitution states that a presidential candidate must score the highest number of votes cast at the election. In addition, the candidate must also score at least a quarter of the votes cast in each of at least 25 states in the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory. Tinubu met this requirement. His closest rivals Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party got 29% and the Labour Party’s Peter Obi got 25% of the votes cast.