Buhari wins second term as Nigeria's president, official count shows

President Muhammadu Buhari has won a second term as the leader of Africa's most populous nation, a tally of official election results collated by journalists showed on Wednesday. Although the electoral commission is yet to formally declare the winner, its results showed Buhari had about 4 million votes more than his main rival, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, giving him an unassailable lead.

The opposition on Tuesday slammed the results as rigged, even before results from all 36 states were announced. Atiku's People's Democratic Party (PDP) held a press conference calling on the electoral commission to halt the collation of the results. PDP official Tanimu Turaki said manipulation and rigging of results had taken place. "The PDP maintains that from the actual votes delivered at the polling units, which we all have, Nigerians clearly and unequivocally gave their mandate to Atiku Abubakar," Turaki said.

The PDP said it wanted fresh voting to be conducted in three states. The presidential and legislative election was at the last moment unexpectedly delayed by a week and though the voting on Saturday was declared "peaceful" by African Union observers, the body noted isolated reports of violence and destruction of electoral materials.

The Situation Room, a coalition of civil society groups that jointly monitored the polls, said that at least 39 people were killed across Nigeria on election day. The group placed the number of election-related deaths since political campaigning began in October at 260 people.

Security officials confirmed that Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram launched two attacks in two north-eastern states in an attempt to disrupt the election – but there were no fatalities. Both the AU and the Situation Room reported electoral malpractice such as voter intimidation and theft of ballot boxes.

Buhari, 76, a former army general is known for being disciplined, austere, honest and incorruptible, a rare track record in Nigerian politics.

As president of Africa's biggest economy and largest oil producer, Buhari has focused on two key tasks: ending corruption in politics and the oil industry and combatting Boko Haram.

Atiku – popularly known by his first name – is a wealthy businessman turned politician and, like Buhari, a Muslim.    (dpa)