Nigeria’s presidential and parliamentary election has produced a surprising result in Lagos, with outsider Peter Obi taking the state from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Tinubu.
The election is seen as a crucial turning point for the country following several years of worsening insecurity and economic troubles.
While 18 candidates hope to replace the outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari, only three have a credible chance of winning, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic party, and Peter Obi of the Labour party.
Obi is seen as a reformist who has reached across Nigeria’s faultlines to woo voters from all communities. Obi’s challenge threatens the dominance of the two parties in power since the end of military rule in 1999, making the election the most competitive for decades.
Provisional results released from Lagos state collation centre gave Obi a narrow win over Tinubu, with 582,454 votes to 572,606, although the APC won control of more local authorities. Tinubu appears to have won at least two other states with some ease, though Obi has done well in his power base in the south-east and made inroads elsewhere.
The People’s Democratic party held onto most of their strongholds, according to early reports.
Some early estimates suggest a high turnout, which would be expected to deliver a boost to Obi, who is popular among young people who make up about a third of the 87 million eligible voters.
However, only a relatively small proportion of eligible voters cast their ballots in Lagos. While the contest looks close, Nigerian electoral law makes a runoff unlikely as the winning candidate needs only a plurality of votes, provided they get 25 per cent of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 36 states.
Nigeria’s electoral commission is not expected to name an outright victor in the race to succeed Buhari for several days. However, analysts have noted that the fact that none of the main candidates are former military officers, a first for a Nigerian poll, is an achievement.
