A mild drama ensued during the official announcement of results at the headquarters of the electoral commission in Abuja.
Tensions rose prior to the start of the results collation when the agent of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stated that the figures announced for Ekiti state do not add up.
The commission declared Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, the winner in Ekiti with 201,494 votes, defeating his closest rival Abubakar Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party with 89,554.
Labour’s Peter Obi received 11,397 votes, while the New Nigeria Peoples Party’s (NNPP) candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, received 264 votes.
Dino Melaye, the PDP agent, stated that his party had noticed an increase of 887 votes in the total number of figures from Ekiti.
Maleye was supported by representatives from two other political parties: the Action Alliance and Labour.
The chairman of the election commission, Mahmood Yakubu, insisted that the commission stood by the Ekiti result.
This did not deter Melaye, who continued his outburst and nearly halted the collation of results for another state, Kwara, which Tinubu had won.
