Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) – With about 51 per cent of the results so far released as at Monday night, Nigeria’s main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken the lead from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the country’s presidential polls held last weekend.
The slim, early lead by the PDP was cancelled out by the APC, when the number of states with completed results increased from nine to 19, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), out of a total of 36 states and the FCT.
APC now leads with 2,032,226 votes, having scored 8,520, 426 against PDP’s 6,488,210.
For a candidate to win the election, he must score 25% of the votes cast in two thirds of the 36 states and the FCT, in addition to winning a simple majority.
The presidential election is a straight battle between incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP and his main challenger, retired army general Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.
The opposition has never unseated an incumbent government in Nigeria’s democratic history, meaning that the APC will set a record if the current results holds out on the completion of the results on Tuesday.
