According to official findings, the 70-year-old experienced lawmaker received 36% of the vote.
Peter Obi of Labour received 25% of the vote, and his main competitor Atiku Abubakar received 29%. Both parties had earlier criticized the election as fraudulent and called for a new one.
One of Nigeria’s wealthiest politicians, Mr. Tinubu, centered his campaign on his success in rebuilding Lagos, the country’s largest city, while serving as governor.
Nevertheless, Mr. Obi, a relative newcomer who rallied the support of many young people, particularly in urban areas, defeated him in the city, upending the two-party structure of the nation.
In his home region of the south-west, where he is referred to as a “political godfather,” Mr. Tinubu won the majority of the other states.
He ran his presidential campaign with the tagline “It’s my turn.”
After two terms in government defined by economic stagnation and escalating insecurity across the nation, including an Islamic insurgency in the north-east, a national problem of kidnapping for ransom, and separatist attacks in the south-east, President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping down.
In the most populous and significant oil exporting country in Africa, Mr. Tinubu now has the responsibility of addressing these issues as well as others.
Mr. Tinubu will believe that he was destined to be president after opposing military rule in Nigeria, making his way to exile, and being one of the foundational figures of the country’s democracy in 1999.
He was always expected to succeed Mr. Buhari, whom he assisted in electing as president, and the challenges he overcame to get here would make this victory even sweeter for him.
He triumphed in the party primary despite not being predicted to do so.
