CurrentReport Blog The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has addressed the concerns surrounding its decision to declare the results of the 2023 presidential election in the early hours of the morning. Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was announced as the winner with 8,794,726 votes, defeating Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
The announcement was made on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at around 2 am by INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu. This timing sparked questions from Nigerians, particularly those whose political parties did not emerge victorious.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, provided an explanation during a press briefing. Oyekanmi clarified that Nigeria, during presidential elections, is treated as a single constituency. This requires the collation of results from polling units, wards, local governments, states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) before they are officially declared in Abuja.
He further explained that the process involves waiting for the 36 returning officers from all states, including distant locations like Sokoto and Maiduguri, to bring their results to the capital. This, he said, was the main cause of the delay in the announcement.
“The constitution or the Electoral Act does not specify any particular time for the declaration of results,” Oyekanmi emphasized. He also noted that in the 2015 presidential election, the results were declared around 4 am.
Despite public criticism over the timing, INEC maintains that the process was conducted within legal requirements, ensuring accuracy and thoroughness before announcing the final results.
