Bola Tinubu is set to become Nigeria’s next president after winning the west African country’s election in disputed circumstances.
He polled 8.8 million votes, just over a third of the total cast, and was announced in the early hours of Wednesday to have beaten Atiku Abubakar (6.9 million) and Peter Obi (6.1 million).
After taking his All Progressives Congress party to the top in the race to succeed Muhammadu Buhari, he told supporters: “This is a serious mandate — I hereby accept it. To serve you… To work with you and make Nigeria great.” Mr Buhari had also been part of the All Progressives Congress.
However, the legitimacy of the election has been called into question, with opponents calling it a “sham” and merely “vote allocation and not collation”. They have also demanded a rerun.
But Mr Tinubu is determined to move beyond the naysayers to unite Nigeria.
He added: “I appeal to my fellow contestants to let us team together. It is the only nation we have. It is one country that we must build together.”
Supporters chanted the affectionate nickname Jagaban (leader of the warriors) after the victory. But, while he has a large supporter base and mandate, Mr Tinubu faces a tough job. He inherits a Nigeria that is divided by regional and religious lines, while he must find ways to create jobs, tackle insecurity and reduce inflation.
Who is Bola Tinubu and what is his background?
Born in 1952 in Lagos, Mr Tinubu grew up in what was called British Nigeria until the country’s revolution in 1960. Later on, disputes would mount about his birth certification, with some questioning his age and background - although this has failed to derail his ambitions.
He spent his youth in the country’s south west and later moved to United States where he studied accounting at Chicago State University - which paved the way for his private sector career in finance. He returned to Nigeria in the early 1980s to work for oil firm Mobil as an accountant.
Who is Bola Tinubu married to and does he have children?
Mr Tinubu and his wife Oluremi are something of a Lagos power couple, with the latter serving as the city’s first lady from 1999 to 2007. She is now a senator for Lagos at the Nigerian National Assembly.
The new president has had six children, who reportedly do not share the same mother. Olajide Tinubu was born in the 1980s but died in London in 2017 after suffering cariac arrest. His eldest daugher Folashade is also a mainstay in Nigerian politics. His second son Oluwaseyi is now 37 and a married businessman, having been born to Bunmi Oshonike. His younger daughers Zainab and Habibat have a lower media profile, although the latter his known to have studied at Boston College of Music. Both of the daughters are known to be children of Oluremi as is his youngest son Olayinka who has also been shielded from the media.
Mr Tinubu is a practising Muslim, like his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari.
What is his political background?
While 80-year-old Mr Buhari is moving aside, Mr Tinubu is no spring chicken himself at 70. Concerns have been raised about his health but he has insisted he is up to the job.
Mr Tinubu may have lost the local Lagos vote to Mr Obi but he is credited as the person who reshaped Nigeria’s commercial capital. The trained accountant was a Mobil executive, which saw him cross the previous military ruler Sani Abacha.
Under Mr Abacha’s rule, Mr Tinubu faced exile, which taught him the value of freedom. He now wears a symbolic chain which represents his value.
He entered politics in 1992 and was part of the Social Democratic Party and National Democratic Coalition before backing the Alliance for Democracy for the 1999 elections.
It was that same year when he got his break and was elected as Lagos governor from 1999 to 2007. During this time, Lagos grew its economy and a range of rapid buses developed its connectivity. However, the city of 25 million was still beset by water, housing and railway problems.
What are the allegations of crime and corruption he has faced?
Accusations of foul play date back to the early 1980s when Mr Tinubu returned to Nigeria to take a post with Mobil. Around this time, US investigators were looking into the accounts of Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, and GTE - all companies he had worked for. A probe noted his “high income” and eventually concluded that his bank accounts “probably” contained the proceeds of heorin dealing. He settled with the government and paid $460,000.
While he has denied allegations of corruption, Mr Tinubu has been accused of holding sway in the Lagos’s finances even after he left the position of governor. He was also pulled up for using Alpha-beta, a company in which he had a stake, to do money laundering, fraud, tax evasion and other corrupt practices — an issue he settled out of court. Then, at the last election, bullion vans were seen moving money to and from his house, fuelling accusations that he was buying votes. “I keep my money anywhere I want,” he said at the time.
What were his presidential ambitions?
After helping to form the opposition All Progressives Congress in 2013 by merging political parties, Mr Tinubu was central to the campaign of Mr Buhari. In 2015 the party was able to get into power when the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan was defeated.
For 2015, he called himself a “talent hunter” and was one of the key backers of Mr Buhari — who returned to office 30 years after moving aside in the 1980s. But it had been clear for some time that he was after the top job and he made his move when his elder statesman retired in 2023.
He is set to be inaugurated on May 29, Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
