By Chisomo Phiri
The politician long heralded as the “father of modern Lagos”, Bola Tinubu,70,has won a tight race to succeed Muhammadu Buhari as the next president of Nigeria.
Tinubu, “having satisfied the requirements of the law, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected”, Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), announced early on Wednesday.
Tinubu polled 8.8 million votes to defeat former-associate-turned-foe Atiku Abubakar and surprise frontrunner Peter Obi, who scored 6.9 million and 6.1 million, respectively, to emerge president hours after three opposition parties called for a cancellation of what they called a “sham” of an election.
Tinubu’s political career began in 1992,when he joined the Social Democratic Party where he was a member of the Peoples Front faction led by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and made up of other politicians such as Umaru Yar’Adua, Atiku Abubakar, Baba Gana Kingibe, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Magaji Abdullahi, Dapo Sarumi and Yomi Edu.
He was elected to the Senate, representing the Lagos West constituency in the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic.
