March 02, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday night, met with President Muhammadu Buhari in Daura, hours after collecting his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Tinubu was accompanied by Vice-President-elect, Kashim Shettima and the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu.
Others on the trip to Daura were the Governors of Kaduna, Nasir El-Rufai; Kebbi, Atiku Bagudu; Ebonyi, Dave Umahi; Zamfara, Bello Matawalle; Niger, Abubakar Sani-Bello; Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Ogun, Dapo Abiodun, Jigawa, Badaru Abubakar and Plateau, Simon Lalong.
THEWILL reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday morning, declared Tinubu winner of the February 25, presidential election.
Chief Returning Officer of the election, who doubled as Chairman of the INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, declared that Tinubu polled 8,794,726 votes to beat Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 6,984,520, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) who secured 6,101,533 votes.
Recall that President Buhari had openly displayed his ballot paper, with thumbprint of APC, before casting his vote during the presidential election on Saturday.
On Wednesday, the President-elect used the opportunity of his visit to thank President Buhari for his support during the electioneering process.
Tinubu said as a loyal party man, they came to present the certificate to the President as the party leader and to commend him for his efforts to support democracy in Africa
“This is the largest democracy in Africa. We could not have done any better. We are lucky, there is no accident and no matter how provocative a defeat is, we have to tolerate it if we are democrats. We have a nation to build”, he said.
In his response, President Buhari commended supporters and the Presidential Campaign Council of the APC for the party’s “historic win” in the polls.
He believed that the party’s victory would never have been possible without discipline, commitment and hard work of the APC Campaign Council.
“We are very lucky, there were no problems. No blood shed, no accidents. We have God Almighty to thank for this,” the president uttered as he warmly clasped the hand of the president-elect.
Buhari said he was pleased that those who chose the APC and its candidates, affirming through this their desire that the momentum of development under the administration continued.
“It was my pleasure to receive His Excellency the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and His Excellency the Vice President-Elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, at home in Daura, today. Two men who are true believers in Nigeria and genuinely committed to progress & development”, he said in a tweet.
