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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

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