By Biodun Busari

The much-anticipated 2023 general elections came alive on Saturday as Nigerians trooped out to vote for their preferred candidate that would succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, who would have governed the country for eight years of two terms by May 29, 2023.

There were 18 candidates that contested the highest political seat.

Candidates

However, the prominent ones are Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC; Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP; and Rabiu Kwakwanso of the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP.

Others are Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Party, SDP; Dumebi Kaachikwu of the African Democratic Congress, ADC; Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party, PRP; and Omoyele Sowore of the African Action Congress, AAC.

Also in the race are Felix Osakwe, National Rescue Movement NRM; Prof Peter Umeadi, All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA; Dan Nwanyanwu, Zenith Labour Party, ZLP; Oluwafemi Adenuga, Boot Party, BP; Christopher Imumolen, Accord.

Hamza Al-Mustapha, Action Alliance, AA; Sani Yabagi Yusuf, African Democratic Party, ADP; Malik Ibrahim Ado, Young Progressive Party, YPP; and Osita Nnadi, Action People’s Party, APP, are also in the race.

The only female candidate in the contest is Chichi Ojei of the Allied Peoples Movement, APM.

Meanwhile, results have been trickling in since yesterday (Saturday) and the leading candidates are Tinubu, Atiku and Obi.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has declared Collation Centre opened for collation of results on Sunday.

Voters

While 93,468,008 registered, it was 87,209,007 people that collected their Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, leaving 6,259,229 PVCs uncollected, as elections took place across the country in over 176,000 polling units.

There were violence, disruptions of voting exercise and disenfranchisement at some polling units in parts of the country such as Lagos, Kano, Kogi, Edo, Borno and Bayelsa states.

This forced the suspension of elections in 141 polling units in Bayelsa. The electoral body has started the processes of collation and announcement of election results.

The new President

Notwithstanding the hitches, which have resulted in major political parties engaging in a battle of allegations and counter-allegations, INEC said it would continue with the procedures of announcing elections, and one of Tinubu, Atiku or Obi will emerge winner soonest.

Below are the conditions that the presidential candidate that wants to succeed Buhari must fulfill:

1. The candidate must score the majority popular votes.

2. The candidate must have at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in two-thirds (24 out of 36) of the states.

3. If none of the candidates meets the requirement, a run-off will be conducted within 21 days, in which a winner must emerge.

4. However, only two candidates — the one with the highest number of votes and the candidate with 25 percent votes in more states — will take part in the run-off election.

The Electoral Act (2022) reveals that the winner of the presidential election will be subjected to the provisions of section 134 of the Nigerian Constitution.

It states that, “In an election to the office of the President or Governor whether or not contested and in any contested election to any other elective office, the result shall be ascertained by counting the votes cast for each candidate and subjected to the provisions of sections 133, 134 and 179 of the Constitution.”

Also, Section 134, subsection 2, of the 1999 Constitution states, “A candidate for an election to the office of President shall be deemed to have been duly elected where, there being more than two candidates for the election – he has the highest number of votes cast at the election each of at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”

So, from developments so far, the process of emergence of the next President will be exciting and tension-filled.