Buhari Is President – Elect; Jonathan Concedes Defeat, Congratulates Him …Obasanjo Too, Wants Him Fight Corruption …We’ll Be Magnanimous In Victory -Amaechi

President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari acknowledging cheers from supporters after his victory at the presidential poll, yesterday.

After three unsuccessful attempts at the presidency since 2003, former Head of State and the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) yesterday beat the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan to emerge the winner of the 2015 presidential election in the country.
Buhari polled a total vote of 15,424,921 representing 53.80 per cent of the total votes cast to beat his closest rival and candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Jonathan who scored 12,853,162 representing 44.83 per cent.
Jonathan is the first incumbent president in Nigeria to lose election.
Announcing the results of the presidential election early this morning, in Abuja, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who is the Chief Returning Officer, Prof. Attahiru Jega said Gen Buhari satisfied all the election requirements having polled the highest number of votes and scored the mandatory minimum of 25 percent in more than 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The INEC chairman thereafter declared Buhari as the winner of the keenly contested presidential election.
The final results of the election declared by the INEC showed that the APC presidential candidate won in 21 states and had the minimum 25 percent in 26 states which include all the northern states and the FCT; while President Jonathan won in 15 states, including all the South-South and South-East, and the FCT and had the minimum 25 per cent in 25 states and the FCT.
The breakdown of the results shows that Buhari won five states in the South-West. These include Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo and Lagos. He lost Ekiti state to President Jonathan.
The APC presidential candidate also won five states in the North-East including Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Yobe. He lost Taraba state.
Buhari won all the seven states in the North-West where he comes from. These include Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara.
In the North- Central, he won in Benue, Kogi, Kwara and Niger States, leaving Nassarawa and Plateau states for  Jonathan.
Buhari, however lost in all the South-East and South-South which are Jonathan’s strongholds. The South-East comprises of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states; while the South-South is made up of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers states.
Gen. Buhari scored his highest single votes in Kano with 1,903,999 votes, while he recorded his highest single percentage in Borno State with 94.86 per cent, followed closely by Katsina, his  home state with  90.80 per cent.
President Jonathan, on the other hand, had his highest single votes in Rivers State with 1,487,075 votes, while he recorded his highest single percentage in his home state, Bayelsa with 97.17 per cent.
Meanwhile, President Jonathan has congratulated his main challenger in the election, Gen. Buhari on his victory.
The president, shortly after meeting with his cabinet members and PDP leaders at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, yesterday, before the final result was released, made a telephone call to Buhari  at exactly 5.15p.m to congratulate him and assured him of maximum cooperation and smooth transition.
Head of the Peace Committee in the country and former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) confirmed the telephone call to State House correspondents after meeting with President Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Gen. Abubakar said President Jonathan told him that he called Buhuari on telephone around 5.15p.m.
Later, President Jonathan, in his concession speech, thanked Nigerians for the great opportunity given him to serve the country and for turning out en-masse for the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections, which he described as free and fair.
He urged those who have mixed feelings about the outcome of the elections to follow due process based on the constitution and the electoral laws, in seeking redress.
While pleading with his colleagues in the PDP to celebrate rather than to mourn the loss, Jonathan affirmed that the unity, stability and progress of the country is more important than anything else.
The president confirmed that he had earlier conveyed his personal best wishes to General Buhari.
Prominent Nigerians including leaders of the opposition party (PDP) have been calling to congratulate Buhari on his hard-earned victory.
The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose who ran the most vicious and notorious campaign including death wish against Buhari was the first opposition leader to congratulate Buhari. He described the 73 year old soldier as a “dogged fighter”.
Other eminent Nigerians including former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, APC governors, their PDP counterparts, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC),  and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have also congratulated Gen. Buhari on his victory.
Meanwhile, Buhari, ahead of his formal declaration as the president-elect yesterday, has expressed gratitude to Nigerians for choosing him and his party over and above the PDP and their candidate, President Jonathan.
He, however, said anybody who is happy with the victory of APC in the election should not involve in the molestation of the opponents or the destruction of their property.
The APC national headquarters, Abuja was a Mecca of sorts last night as chieftains and supporters of the APC across the country converged in their thousands at the party secretariat to celebrate Buhari’s victory, just as sea of heads were waiting for his formal declaration and his acceptance speech as the president-elect.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has declared today a public holiday in the state in celebration of Buhari’s victory.
Similary,  the  Director-General of All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation, Gov. Rotimi Amaechi,  said yesterday that the party would be magnanimous in victory when it takes over power on May 29.
Amaechi, who said this at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, noted that the government of Muhammadu Buhari would be all-inclusive.
“After the announcement, it will become clearer to the nation that APC has won the election and we will be magnanimous in victory.
“We cherish this victory so much but it is not only about celebration, it is about the seriousness of governance and you must see the difference between us the current government.
“If we say there is incompetence, we must show competence; If we say there was corruption, we must show that we will not be corrupt.
“If we say that people were denied their basic right, we must protect the right of people.
“If we say there was impunity, we must govern by the rule of law and once we show that, you will see the basic difference between us and the current government’’, Amaechi said.
He noted that the victory of the party at the presidential election was historic as it was the first time in the history of the country’s democracy that an incumbent Federal Government would be defeated.
“The victory is historical to me. I will be proud to tell my children that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, the opposition party was able to rout the government and party in power.
“We were able to present a different picture of what life looks like which is giving the people the courage to confront the current government on corruption and confront the fact that people were hungry.
“This is because they don’t go to the same market as other Nigerians go.
“They have the kind of funds they want and they eat the kind of food they want to eat but Nigerians were dying of hunger.
“We want to let Nigerians know that Boko Haram was not about religion alone, there was element of poverty and ignorance’’, he added.
Amaechi also said that the incoming government would have to deal with falling standard of education and unemployment in the north and in the south.
He added that the Buhari administration would make Nigerians to understand that religion was never an issue in Nigeria.

Boye Salau