Search
  1. Home
  2. West Africa
  3. Nigeria

Obasanjo wins presidential poll

    NAIROBI

    People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Olusegun Obasanjo was returned to power as civilian president in Saturday’s elections, 20 years after he resigned as Nigeria’s military ruler.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) today (Monday) released the poll results, which gave Obasanjo 62 percent of the total 27,636,929 valid votes cast. His challenger, Olu Falae of the combined Alliance for Democracy/All People’s Party (AD/APP), won 38 percent.

    “Olusegun Obasanjo is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” INEC chairman Ephraim Akpata said, according to news reports.

    The election ends 15 straight years of military rule, in a country where soldiers have held power for a total of all but 10 years since independence in 1960. The outgoing military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, is due to resign his commission on 29 May, the day Obasanjo assumes office. Obasanjo ruled Nigeria from 1976 to 1997 after the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join