General Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday became Nigeria's president elect after defeating the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in the first democratic change of power ever in Africa's most populous nation.
After his declaration, thousands of supporters across Nigeria has spilled onto the streets to celebrate the victory, shouting his campaign slogan "Sai Buhari" ("Only Buhari"), Sai Baba. Some chanted: "Change! Change!". A cavalcade of motorbikes and cars with their headlights on and horns blaring were seen parading through the streets too.
Many brandished brooms, his party symbol, with which they have pledged to sweep away years of government waste and corruption.
Below are some of the photos, images of election celebration in Nigeria in 2015:
Despite the vote being the closest contest ever in the nation of 173 million, opposition supporters saw it as a clear mandate.
Nigerians have voted out the incumbent President Jonathan and elected a 72-year-old former military dictator, General Buhari in a historic transfer of power officially announced early Wednesday following the nation's most hotly contested election ever.
It will be the first time in Nigeria's history that an opposition party has democratically taken control of the country from the ruling party, PDP — which has governed since decades of military dictatorship ended in 1999.
Jonathan's concession came before the final announcement from the Independent National Electoral Commission that Buhari had been elected.
INEC Commission chairman Attahiru Jega said Buhari received 15,424,921 votes to Jonathan's 12,853,162.
Both candidates satisfied the requirement for a victor to win at least 25 percent of votes in two-thirds of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Jega said — Buhari in 27 states and Jonathan in 26. Buhari won 19 states to Jonathan's 17 and the small Federal Capital Territory.read more →
Earlier this morning Nigeria President Elect General Muhammadu Buhari Address the Nation. Below is the video of General Buhari first speech after his declaration as winner of 2015 Nigeria presidential elections :
BRIEF PRESS STATEMENT BY GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI,GCFR, PRESIDENT ELECT ON THE PLATFORM OF THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS, APC.
President Jonathan engaged in a spirited campaign and was a worthy opponent. I extend my hand of fellowship to him. I look forward to meeting him soon as we plan the transition from one administration to another. He will receive nothing but understanding, cooperation and respect from me and my team.
The good people of Nigeria, answered the call of history. When the account of this fine moment is written, it will be said that it was the people themselves who led this nation to democracy.
You stood in line patiently for hours in the sun, rain and then in the dark to cast your ballots. Even when the vote was extended to Sunday in some places, you still performed your civic duty. You did so peacefully. You voted with your heart. Your vote affirms that you believe Nigeria’s future can be better than what it is today.
You voted for change and now change has come.
INEC has released the official results of the Presidential election. INEC has declared that I gained the most votes with the required spread and thus won this election. In a more profound way, it is you, Nigerians that have won. The people have shown their love for our nation and their belief in democracy.
The declaration of INEC accurately reflects the will of the people. Whilethere might have been some logistical obstacles and irregularities associated with the exercise, the result shall stand as what the people want.
I thank all Nigerians who have made this day possible. Our country has now joined the community of nations that have used the ballot box to peacefully change an incumbent President in a free and fair election. To me this is indeed historic.
Most people will welcome the result because it is the one they voted for. Others will naturally be disappointed. I ask that we all be circumspect, respectful and peaceful in these times.
This was a hard- fought contest. Emotions are high. We must not allow them to get the better of us. This is not the time for confrontation. This is a moment that we must begin to heal the wounds and work toward a better future. We do this first by extending a hand of friendship and conciliation across the political divide. We hope and pray our friends in other parties reciprocate.
I thank all the members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for their commitment and their hard work through the formation of the party, the campaigns and the Presidential elections. Let me equally extend my appreciation to the MEDIA, Civil Society and the Security agencies for their selfless service.
The International press and our friends abroad deserve special commendation for their support throughout the process. We promise a robust and dynamic engagement with your countries in matters of mutual interest to nations.
In the interim, I call on all Nigerians to be law abiding and peaceful. The eyes of the world were focused on us to see if we could vote in a peaceful way and carry out a representative election in an orderly manner. You have proven to the world that we are a people who have embraced democracy and a people who seek a of government by, for and of the people.
We have put one party state behind us. You have voted for a party and president that will serve and govern but never rule over you. Change has come. A new day and a new Nigeria are upon us. The victory is yours and the glory is that of our nation – Nigeria I will make a more formal address to the nation tomorrow after receiving the certificate of return from INEC.
May God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
General Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President Elect, Federal Republic of Nigeriaread more →
CHAIRMAN of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday, explained that the decision of the commission not to heed the petition of the All Progressives Congress, APC, by cancelling or rescheduling the presidential election in Rivers State was because the petition lacked merit.
Speaking yesterday at the collation centre in Abuja, Jega specifically said the allegation was not substantial to warrant cancellation or rescheduling of the presidential poll in the state.
“We do not believe the allegations are substantial enough to require the cancellation/rescheduling of the elections in Rivers. Sunday morning, I received a petition from the All Progressives Congress ,APC, demanding the cancellation and rescheduling of elections in Rivers State. I circulated this memo to the Commission. We reviewed it and set up a three- man Committee to Rivers and returned this morning with their observations. There were a number of points as to why the Commission should cancel/reschedule elections: on the grounds of no elections, no result sheets or substitution of officials,’’ he said.
He added: “We cannot establish any cancellation or substitution of results and we sent a list of collation officers to the state. Officials failed to show up to work for several reasons and it is up to the REC to substitute from the pool of officials they have
“We do not believe the allegations are substantial enough to require the cancellation/rescheduling of the elections in Rivers. The decision of the Commission is that we will take the results of the elections in Rivers state. We have taken measures to make sure that there is no re-occurrence in the future”
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has hailed President Goodluck Jonathan and the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), for their fighting spirit in the ongoing presidential poll.
In a statement on Tuesday, Fayose, however, stopped short of congratulating the APC candidate for his likely victory in the poll.
Fayose’s statement by his Special Adviser on Communication and New Media, Lere Olayinka, reads,
“Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose has urged Nigerians to accept the outcome of the Saturday presidential election in good faith, saying; ‘the election result is the will of God and Nigerians , and all lovers of peace, progress and development of Nigeria must accept it’.
“Governor Fayose, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, hailed the resilience and commitment of President Goodluck Jonathan and General Mohammadu Buhari (retd).
“The governor said the election results should not been seen as victory or loss for any political party, adding that ‘To me, Nigerians and democracy won’.
“He praised Nigerians for believing in the democratic process, adding that ‘By this election, Nigerians have shown that Democracy has come to stay in the country’.
“The governor said, ‘I salute Nigerians, especially the great people of Ekiti State. I salute President Jonathan for laying the most solid foundation for democracy in Nigeria. And I salute Major General Buhari for being a resilience and dogged fighter.
“I urge Nigerians, irrespective of their ethic, religious and political affiliation to respect the outcome of the election in the interest of peace, progress and development of the country.
“Nigeria as a country is greater than any individual or group and it is my plea that no one should do anything to rock the boat of peace in the country.”
Former Niger Delta Affairs Minister Elder Godsday Orubebe last night apologized for his during the release of elections results in Abuja. He regretted that he allowed his emotion to betray him.
He pleaded with Niger Delta youths not to perpetrate violence because of the election of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.
Orubebe, who held up proceedings for about 30 minutes, told reporters in Abuja: ”Election is a passionate thing and I really regret what took place this morning. I was unnecessarily pushed by Jega to get to that level.
“I want to apologize particularly to young Nigerians that look up to take politics as a career to say that what happened was not intended to cause them any embarrassment.
“To Nigerians generally, I regret my actions as even an elder in the church, and a leader, the young men expected to see a lot from me and I believe that if there was any disappointment they got from me I apologize to Nigerians and to the youths of this country.”
A sober Orubebe asked Niger Delta youths not to take the laws into their hands on the outcome of the Presidential Election.
“We have always talked about peace in this country and remember that when there was crisis in the Niger Delta, I was one of the architects that sacrificed to got the creeks to tell the militants that we need peace in this country alongside President Goodluck Jonathan.”
On President Goodluck Jonathan’s sportsmanship attitude, he said: “Two things are in place. The president is the president of everybody. As a statesman and as a president; he has done what he should do.”
On how the PDP will take the defeat, Orubebe said: “I cannot decide for the PDP. It is a large family. We were sent on an errand to come back to report. We will go and report to the party and the party will take the necessary action it has to take.
“You remember what happened in Ekiti’s governorship election when the governor congratulated his opponent and the party went back and said this is what they have seen. The candidate is not the party, he is a candidate and he has acted very well as a statesman, and as the president, the father of all. For us, we are agents to be here to see what transpired here and give report to them.”read more →
During the announcement of the election results yesterday at the INEC national collation centre in Abuja, Godsday Orubebe, accused the Chairman of INEC, Prof Jega of being tribalistic, selective and partial.
Jega responed to his allegation in a matured way which has been hailed by Nigerians across the globe. Below is the video of Jega response to Orubebe allegations:
"You have made two comments. One is that you submitted a petition which I refused to accept. Secondly you claimed that there was a result released by the APC which you alleged that we gave to them or I gave to them. With regards to the first point, yesterday after we took the first batch of results in this hall and as we declared a recess until 4pm, as I was walking down back to the office, my PA came to me and said that here are some papers that Dr Bello Fadile, a representative of the PDP said that he should collect it; that I said Dr Fadile should give him those papers. I told him that I didn't tell Dr Fadile to give any papers to you. Return them to him because Dr Fadile, after we declared for recess came on to this platform. As a party agent, he is not supposed to do that and gave some documents to my PA who is writing results here. and I am sure some of the agents and some of the pressmen may have seen that and I told my PA to take back those documents to him. If he told you I told him to give you any documents, I did not. Take them back to him, Subsequently, Dr Fadile sent me a text message saying that there are petitions and that he wants to submit them. I told him we don't collect petitions on the platform when we are declaring results and then he said I should have left my office open so that they can submit those petitions in my office. I told him our secretary, the secretary to the commission is not anywhere in this hall. She is in her office and that her business is to receive communication. If they are important enough, she would bring them to me here. I have started collation. I cannot be receiving petition in this hall or in this platform. And when I replied that text message, he replied again and said Okay, he will see what he can do. I interpreted the text as he was going to take that petition or whatever document he has to the secretary of the commission. As I speak with you now, I have not received anything from the secretary to the commission. That is regards to the issue of the so called petition.
Regarding results published by APC on its website, I do not give results to anybody. The results were announced formally as INEC are results declared here. And we have warned everybody to be careful and to ensure that the do not declare results which we have not officially announced. So as far as I am concerned I have not seen any results. I have not given anybody any results. So for you to even engage me on that issue I think frankly that is not fair to me. I have not seen the results. How can I speak on something that I have not seen. So please let us be careful of what we say or do so that we do not disrupt a process that has ended peacefully and in a matter of hours we would be able to finish it.". Jega said
