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Claim: Peter Obi was the winner of the 2023 presidential election. Atiku Abubakar was second, and Bola Tinubu came third.
Verdict: FALSE! Credible news outlets revealed that President Tinubu was declared the winner by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC). President Tinubu emerged as the winner after polling 8,794,726 votes, Mr Abubakar was the first runner-up after gaining 6,984,520, and Mr Obi was the second runner-up after gaining 6,101,533 votes.
Full Text
A Facebook user, John Nwaokorie, has claimed that in the last presidential election, the party flag bearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, was the true winner of the election. At the same time, his rival from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, came second, and Bola Tinubu, from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was third in the presidential race.
He wrote: “Peter Obi came (first). Atiku (second). Tinubu came (third). H.E. Tinubu came (third). H.E. Peter Obi won the just concluded 2023 presidential election.”
The Facebook user, who also dubbed himself a “Moderator,” anchored his claim on a set of statistics related to the votes cast in favour of each presidential candidate across all regions.
He wrote that in the North, “39% voted Peter Obi, 40% voted Atiku, and 25% voted Tinubu while in the West, 50% cast their votes for Mr Obi, 31% President Tinubu and 25% Mr Abubakar.
In the South, he wrote, “89%” voted for Mr Obi, “15%” voted for Mr Abubakar, and “5%” voted for Tinubu.
The post has earned 310 likes and 340 comments as of Friday, 26 August, 2023.
Observing some comments, the sentimental divide was clear: while some questioned the claim’s veracity, a few took it quite seriously.
“Useless post. Can you provide facts (about) this?” Martin White-Ufuah queried
“This post actually is the authentic and accurate result. Any outside this(,) is false.” Jude Anaeleze acquiesced.
To put the matter straight, DUBAWA decided to bring back election figures as credibly reported.
Background
On Saturday, February 12, 2023, Nigerians headed to the polling booths to choose presidential candidates, an exercise that saw a two-time governor of Lagos State, President Tinubu, emerge as the winner after he polled 8,794,726 votes.
However, the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) wasn’t compelling enough for his two main rivals: six-time presidential contender Mr Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and a budding Labour Party (LP)’s Mr Obi to contest the outcome at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).
Mr Abubakar, who polled 6,984,520 and Mr Obi, who polled 6,101,533, both demanded that the PEPT nullify the election and conduct a fresh exercise. However, the court has yet to pass judgement.
Verification
On Wednesday, March 1, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared All Progressives Congress’ presidential flag bearer, President Tinubu, as the winner of the presidential election that was conducted on Saturday, February 25, 2023, according to PREMIUM TIMES.
The report detailed that President Tinubu polled ahead of other contenders, 8,794,726, to secure the highest political office in the country. The first runner-up, Mr Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), polled 6,984,520 votes, and Labour Party’s Mr Obi polled a total of 6,101,533 votes to become the second runner-up in the political race.
From the election data and analysis, the total number of votes received by the APC in the north region is 5,580,686. The total number of votes received by LP in the north region is 2,080,846, while PDP received 5,233,473.
According to the PREMIUM TIMES report, the total number of votes cast in the north region is 14,500,000. To get the percentage of votes obtained in the north region by each political party in question, we divided the number of votes each party obtained by the total number of votes cast in the region and multiplied it by 100.
While APC got 38.5 per cent, LP got 14.4 per cent, and PDP got 36.1 per cent.
In the south region, APC accrued 927,562 votes, LP received 3,171,264 votes, and PDP obtained 809,106. According to the report, the total number of votes cast in the region is 5,000,000.
Dividing each party’s votes obtained in the region by the total number of votes cast in the South and multiplied by 100, APC has a percentage of 18.6 per cent, PDP 16.2 per cent, and LP 63.4 per cent.
In the west, APC received 2,279,407 votes; LP obtained 846,478 votes and PDP 941,941 votes.
According to the PREMIUM TIMES report, the total number of votes cast in the west is 4,200,000.
Obtaining each party’s percentage by dividing the votes gotten by the total votes cast in the west and multiplying by 100, APC has 54.3 per cent, LP 20.2 per cent and PDP 22.4 per cent.
The total percentage received by each political party across the regions was derived by adding the total number of votes obtained by each party across all regions, dividing it by the total votes cast across all areas, and multiplying it by 100.
The total number of votes obtained by APC across all regions is 8,787,655, LP, 6,098,588, and PDP 6,984,520.
According to the PREMIUM TIMES report, the total number of votes cast across all regions is 24,900,000.
Therefore, the total percentage of votes obtained by APC across all regions is 35.3 per cent, LP 24.5 per cent, and PDP 28.1 per cent.
A table representing the percentage of votes obtained by APC, LP and PDP in the 2023 presidential election from each region in Nigeria
| PARTIES | APC | LP | PDP | |||
| REGION | Claimant (%) | DUBAWA (%) | Claimant (%) | DUBAWA (%) | Claimant (%) | DUBAWA (%) |
| North | 25 | 38.5 | 39 | 14.4 | 40 | 36.1 |
| South | 5 | 18.6 | 89 | 63.4 | 15 | 16.2 |
| West | 31 | 54.3 | 50 | 20.2 | 25 | 22.4 |
| TOTAL PERCENTAGE ACROSS REGIONS | 35.3% | 24.5% | 28.1% |
Meanwhile, we contacted the claimant to inquire about how he came about the scores and derived the percentages, but we got no response.
Conclusion
The claim is false. Analysis of the election data provided by PREMIUM TIMES puts President Tinubu of APC ahead with 35.3% of the vote, followed by Mr Abubakar of PDP, with 28.1%, and Mr Obi of LP, who comes in the rear of the three with 24.5%.
