NEWS
#NigeriaDecides: Tinubu May Be Declared Next President-Elect
Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, APC, has won the majority of votes in the nationwide presidential election held on Saturday.
While the official results have not yet been announced at the national collation center in Abuja, electoral officials in all 36 states and Abuja have released the state-by-state results.
According to INEC official results shows that Tinubu leads his closest challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, with over 1.8 million votes after the summation of results from the 36 states and Abuja
Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State, has so far garnered 8,794,491 votes. He also won the elections in 12 states.
Atiku scored 6,984,290 votes and he also won in 12 states.
The Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, is following closely with 12 states won and 6,093,962 votes garnered.
In fourth position is Rabiu Kwankwaso who has 1,496,671 votes and won a state – Kano State.
Tinubu won the elections in Rivers, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun states.
Atiku won in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kaduna, Gombe, Yobe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states. He also won in Osun, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states.
Obi won in Edo, Cross River, Delta, Lagos, FCT, Plateau, Imo, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Anambra, Abia and Enugu states.
Apart from scoring the constitutionally required majority votes, Tinubu also appears to have met the second requirement of 25 per cent of the votes in 25 states (two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and Abuja).
Based on the INEC results, Tinubu has a minimum of 25 per cent in 30 states. Atiku has a minimum of 25 per cent in 21 states while Obi scored a minimum of 25 per cent in 17 states.
As of 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the final collation of results was still ongoing at the national collation centre in Abuja.
At that centre, apart from reviewing the total votes scored by each candidate and the 25 per cent spread, officials will also review the total number of cancelled votes across all the states.
The figures would be computed to check if the cancelled votes are more than the margin of victory; a situation that may lead to supplementary elections in the affected polling units.
Should that not be the case, Tinubu would be declared the winner of the election and the president-elect.
While the APC and its supporters may be in an upbeat mood based on the results, the PDP and the LP have called for the cancellation of the results.
The PDP and LP made their positions known at a Tuesday press conference attended by their vice-presidential candidates, Ifeanyi Okowa and Datti Baba-Ahmed, respectively.
“The election was a sham, and never free and fair,” said Mr Okowa of the PDP, a position corroborated by the LP’s vice-presidential candidate.
The main issue raised by the parties is that INEC did not follow the law by failing to upload the election results from the over 170,000 polling units onto a central server (IReV) before the collation and announcement of results.
The parties demanded at a press conference that INEC’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, step down due to what they consider to be electoral misconduct. INEC has responded by stating that its chairman will not resign and any party with complaints about the election should use the legal process to voice their concerns.
Oil marketers have warned that Nigerians may soon pay as much as ₦1,500 per litre for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, as global oil prices surge following the escalating conflict involving Iran in the Middle East.
The National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, issued the warning on Tuesday while speaking on a television programme on the impact of the global crisis on fuel prices.
According to him, the current volatility in the international oil market has already pushed petrol prices above ₦1,000 per litre at the depot level, with the ex-depot price from the Dangote Petroleum Refinery now standing at about ₦1,175 per litre.
He explained that once logistics, transportation, and other operational costs are added, the final pump price could rise significantly, possibly reaching ₦1,500 per litre in the near future.
Despite concerns about the rising cost of fuel, Gillis-Harry noted that steady availability of petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery remains a major relief for Nigeria, stressing that consistent supply is better than a nationwide fuel scarcity.
He added that the refinery’s production capacity is helping to stabilize supply across the country at a time when global markets remain highly unstable.
The latest price adjustment by the Dangote Refinery marks the fourth review within two weeks. Petrol prices increased from ₦995 per litre to ₦1,175 per litre, while diesel rose from ₦1,430 to about ₦1,620 per litre.
The development comes amid a sharp spike in international crude oil prices triggered by fears of supply disruptions due to the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Brent crude recently climbed above $102 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose to around $101 per barrel.
Industry analysts say the rising oil prices are already having a ripple effect on Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector, forcing depot operators and fuel marketers to adjust their prices in response to the global market trend.
Meanwhile, the management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery has stated that although Nigeria introduced a crude-for-naira arrangement to support local refineries, the facility still purchases crude oil at international market prices, leaving it exposed to global price fluctuations.
The United Nations has raised the alarm over a dramatic surge in attacks on schools worldwide, reporting a 166% increase between 2021 and 2024.
The rise highlights the escalating dangers faced by children in conflict zones.
United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, revealed the figures during the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on the rights of the child on Monday.
The session, themed “Mainstreaming the Rights of Children in Armed Conflict: Prevention and Protection,” focused on protecting children amid global conflicts.
Al-Nashif noted that the attacks were particularly concentrated in Sudan, Ukraine, the Gaza Strip, Myanmar, and Ethiopia, where children remain among the most vulnerable victims.
“In 2024, armed conflict directly affected nearly one in six children globally—about 470 million children,” she said. “Years of lost education, trauma, and lasting mental scars shape societies for generations. Long after the fighting subsides, children continue to face deadly risks.”
She highlighted Gaza as having the world’s highest number of child amputees per capita, warning that the impact of war goes far beyond immediate violence.
In Lebanon, government figures show that more than 450,000 people were displaced in less than a week, with at least 394 fatalities, including 83 children, during the 2024 conflict with Israel.
Al-Nashif also stressed the disproportionate risks for displaced children, who are more likely to die from disease linked to unsafe water and sanitation than from direct violence.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a 2025 cholera outbreak killed 340 children, underscoring the long-term consequences of conflict.
She called on states to uphold their international obligations to protect children, insisting that protecting children is “both a legal obligation and a humanitarian moral imperative.”
Also speaking at the council, Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, warned that violence against children continued at extreme levels in 2025.
She urged mainstreaming child protection across peace, security, humanitarian, human rights, and development efforts, emphasizing that children should actively participate in shaping policies designed to safeguard them.
Frazier highlighted her office’s global campaign, “Prove It Matters,” aimed at amplifying children’s voices in conflict resolution and peacebuilding.
The UN report underscores the urgent need for coordinated international action to protect children and ensure their safety in conflict zones worldwide.
Portugal officially inaugurated its new president, Antonio Jose Seguro, on Monday, pledging to bring stability to a nation shaken by political uncertainty and natural disasters.
Seguro, the centre-left candidate, won last month’s presidential run-off against far-right rival Andre Ventura, following weeks of catastrophic storms that killed at least seven people and caused approximately €4 billion ($4.6 billion) in damage.
Speaking at his swearing-in ceremony in Lisbon’s parliament, Seguro emphasized cooperation with the minority right-wing government and vowed to end the country’s “electoral frenzy.”
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“I will do everything I can to put an end to this electoral frenzy,” he said, pointing to the inability of previous governments to complete their terms.
Amid global crises, including conflicts in the Middle East and a more isolationist US approach under President Donald Trump, Seguro stressed the importance of multilateralism.
“The force of law has been replaced by the power of the strongest,” he remarked.
Seguro succeeds Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a conservative who leaves office at 77 after serving two five-year terms.
While the Portuguese presidency is largely ceremonial, Seguro’s leadership signals a commitment to political stability and international engagement.
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