Yoopya with Reuters
Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi, whose campaign attracted young people and urban voters fed up with corrupt politics, won most votes in the commercial hub of Lagos state, where Africa’s biggest city is located.
Nigeria’s electoral commission began announcing state-by-state results in the national elections on Sunday, though it is not expected to name a victor in the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari for several days.
Obi of the Labour Party got 582,454 votes, just ahead of 572,606 for former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu for the governing All Progressives Congress party, electoral commission data showed on Monday. Lagos was previously Tinubu’s main stronghold.
Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) got 75,750 votes.
Obi’s campaign called on voters to reject the two parties that have run Africa’s most populous nation for a quarter century, under whose governance corruption has flourished and insecurity has spread across the country.
He was most popular with the youth, but especially urban, relatively educated voters with access to smartphones and social media. But he still faces an uphill struggle in rural areas with a less sophisticated audience.