U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday commended
Nigerian President-elect Muhammadu Buhari and current President Goodluck
Jonathan following the African nation's first democratic transfer of power, and
he praised the country's commitment to democracy, according to Reuters.
"I urge President-Elect Buhari and President
Jonathan to repeat their calls to their supporters to continue to respect the
election outcomes, focus on unifying the country, and together lead Nigeria
through a peaceful transition," Obama said in a statement.
AFP reports Muhammadu
Buhari on Tuesday became Nigeria's president elect after defeating Goodluck
Jonathan in the first democratic change of power ever in Africa's most populous
nation.
The victory writes a new
chapter in the country's often turbulent history after six military coups since
independence in 1960 and 16 years of unbroken civilian rule by Jonathan's
party.
The gripping contest also
capped a remarkable transformation for the 72-year-old former army general, who
led a tough military regime in the 1980s but now describes himself as a
"converted democrat".
Thousands spilled onto
the streets of the north's biggest city, Kano, in celebration, shouting his
campaign slogan "Sai Buhari" ("Only Buhari") as he took an
unassailable lead with one state to declare.
Many brandished brooms,
his party symbol, with which they have pledged to sweep away years of
government waste and corruption.
In the northern city of
Kaduna, supporters of his All Progressives Congress (APC) chanted:
"Change! Change!"
Official results
announced Wednesday showed Buhari winning by 2.57 million votes.
The Independent National
Electoral Commission said Buhari won 15,424,921 votes or 53.95 percent of the
28,587,564 total valid votes cast.
His nearest rival,
Jonathan, won 12,853,162 (44.96 percent.)
INEC chairman Attahiru
Jega said: "Muhammadu Buhari, of the APC, having satisfied the requirement
for the law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the
winner and is returned elected."
- Gripping contest -
The election was hit by
glitches to new voter technology and claims of irregularities, having been
played out against a backdrop of fears of deadly Boko Haram violence and
poll-related clashes.
But with dissatisfaction
over security, corruption and the faltering economy as oil revenues dived,
voters turned out in force sensing an unprecedented opportunity for change.
In the financial hub of
Lagos, in the southwest, Buhari supporters celebrated wildly, some of them on
horseback, with fireworks exploding into the night
"This is the first
democratic change ever in Nigeria," Anas Galadima told AFP, as thousands
thronged the APC headquarters in the capital Abuja, dancing and banging drums.
"It's not about
Muslim or Christian or any party. It's about politicians knowing that if you
don't do the job, we can kick you out.
"I haven't been this
excited since the night of Barack Obama's election."
- Dynamics changed -
Political commentator
Chris Ngwodo said the victory had "instigated the supremacy and primacy of
the electorate" in a country where elections had generally been a foregone
conclusion for the incumbent.
"The dynamics
between the governed and government has changed for good," said Ngwodo.
Buhari won because,
backed by a strong and well-organized party machine, he had secured national
support in a divided nation split between a largely Muslim north and mainly
Christian south, he added.
Military gains against
Boko Haram in recent weeks were welcomed but seen as too little, too late after
so much bloodshed.
Jonathan conceded in a
telephone call to Buhari at 5:15 pm even before the final results were
declared, earning him praise from politicians of all stripes.
"I promised the country
free and fair elections. I have kept my word," he said later, urging
disputes over the results to be settled in court rather than on the street.
"Nobody's ambition
is worth the blood of any Nigerian," he added.
- Key gains -
Buhari has accused
Jonathan of a failure of leadership in tackling the Boko Haram insurgency,
which over six years has left more than 13,000 people dead and some 1.5 million
people homeless.
Borno state -- the region
worst-affected by the Islamists' rampage and from where more than 200
schoolgirls were abducted in April last year to global outrage -- was last to
declare.
Buhari won 94 percent of
the vote, putting him 2.57 million votes ahead of Jonathan with the official
tally awaited.
Hundreds of thousands of
people defied threats of suicide attacks and bombings to vote, with polling
stations set up in camps for displaced people from the conflict in the state
capital, Maiduguri.
Buhari, a Muslim, won
massively in the north and crucial gains elsewhere, including Lagos, which had
been targeted by both sides as a swing state.
Jonathan, who at one
point clawed back the deficit to some 500,000 votes after winning near total
support in his home state of Bayelsa and neighbouring Rivers.
But it was not enough to
seize back the momentum and with eight states to declare, most of them in the
north, APC spokesman Lai Mohammed called victory.
"This is the first
time the opposition has voted a government out of power in Nigeria's
history," he told AFP.
- High expectations -
Buhari has admitted that
he cannot perform miracles, with poverty widespread among Nigeria's 173 million
people, the Boko Haram threat not yet over and the economy hit by the slump in
global oil prices.
"Our expectation of
getting there overnight is not realistic but... there are some of us in Nigeria
who are serious" about stabilizing the system, he said last month.
His wife, Aisha, said on
Tuesday: "We are working towards a new Nigeria, as my husband promised.
It's going to be tough. Expectations are high."
Buhari, with his military
background, was seen as a better bet to fight the militants, while he has been
seen as an anti-corruption crusader, despite excesses and abuses during his
military rule.
He has vowed to lead by
personal example, pledging: "Corruption will have no place and the corrupt
will not be appointed to my administration."
But he has rejected PDP
charges that he is unchanged from his days in the military, where he fell foul
of rights groups in his pursuit of the corrupt and general
"indiscipline".
"Before you is a
former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under
democratic rules," he said in February.
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