Welcome to the National Collation Centre, the International Conference Centre, Abuja, where Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, is presiding over the collation of the results of last weekend’s presidential ballot.

The results for the two main candidates, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are as follows:

Ekiti State: JONATHAN of PDP 176,474 votes Muhammadu Buhari of APC 120,332 votes.

Ogun State: BUHARI 308,290 votes Jonathan 207,950 votes

Enugu State: JONATHAN 553,003 votes Buhari 14,157 votes

Kogi State: BUHARI 264,851 votes Jonathan 149,987 votes

Osun State: BUHARI 383,603 votes Jonathan 249,929 votes

Ondo State: BUHARI 299,889 votes Jonathan 251,368 votes

FCT Abuja: JONATHAN 157,195 votes Buhari 146,399 votes

Oyo State: BUHARI 528,620 votes Jonathan 303,376 votes

Nasarawa State: JONATHAN 273,460 votes Buhari 236,838 votes

Here we go again, with the collation of results – resuming an hour late. The rest of the results as they unfold:

Kano State: BUHARI 1,903,999 votes Jonathan 215,779 votes

Jigawa State: BUHARI 885,988 votes Jonathan 142,904 votes

Katsina State: BUHARI 1,345,441 votes Jonathan 98,937 votes

Kwara State: BUHARI 302,146 votes Jonathan 132,602 votes

Kaduna State: BUHARI 1,127,760 Jonathan 484,085 votes

Anambra State: JONATHAN 660,762 votes Buhari 17,926 votes

Abia State: JONATHAN 368,303 votes Buhari 13,394 votes

Jega calls a recess, which he says will last for 10 minutes but it stretches much longer. Will resume posting when collation rsumes. Please stay tuned.

Here we are, back to business.

Akwa Ibom State: JONATHAN 953,304 votes Buhari 58,411 votes

Imo State: JONATHAN 559,185 votes Buhari 133,253 votes

Plateau State: JONATHAN 549,615 votes Buhari 429,140 votes

It's past 11 here in Abuja, Nigeria, and Jega has called an end to the day's activities; announcing that collation resumes by 10am tomorrow. We close the first day of collation with Buhari manitaining a strong lead of over 2 million votes. Thanks for your company and see you tomorrow morning. Good night.

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Good morning, dear reader. Welcome to the concluding part of the collation exercise.

Wow! What's oing on? The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the result of the country’s presidential ballot held over weekend, accusing the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, of partiality.

The party’s representative at the collation centre, Elder Godswill Orubebe, levied the allegation at the resumed exercise minutes ago.

“We have lost confidence in you. You are partial. You are compromised and we are not going to continue with you. You are partial. You are selective,” Orubebe shouted at Jega.

He thereafter seized the microphone and sat on the floor close to the ‘high table’ with some other PDP representatives as security men watched.

Orubebe accused Jega of promptly acting on APC’s petition on alleged rigging in Rivers State while ignoring that of PDP. He refused to allow Jega to respond, shouting the “He should go to the office. Let him go to the office!” the drama continues.

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After Orubebe calms down, Jega responds, dismissing the allegations and orders collation to continue.

Below are the results of the remaining 18 states:

Ebonyi State: JONATHAN 323,653 votes Buhari 19,519 votes

Niger State: BUHARI 657,678 votes Jonathan 149,222 votes

Lagos State: BUHARI 792,460 votes Jonathan 632,327 votes

Bayelsa State: JONATHAN 361,209 votes Buhari 5,194 votes

Gombe State: BUHARI 361,245 votes Jonathan 96,873 votes

Cross River State: JONATHAN 414,863 votes Buhari 28,368 votes

Rivers State: JONATHAN 1,487,075 votes Buhari 69,238 votes

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Jega announces a break to enable secretariat process some results that arrived this morning. He says the session resumes at 1:30 p.m. See you then.

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Welcome back. Here we go with the remaining results:

Adamawa State: BUHARI 374,701 votes Jonathan 251,664 votes

Zamfara State: BUHARI 612,202 votes Jonathan 144,833 votes

Kebbi State: BUHARI 567,883 votes Jonathan 100,972 votes

*Jega calls a sitting break, meaning that the house is not leaving the premises of the ICC where the collation is taking place. Break over, collation resumes, with the following results:

Benue State: BUHARI 373,961 votes Jonathan 303,737 votes

Bauchi State: BUHARI 931,598 votes Jonathan 86,085 votes

Yobe State: BUHARI 446,265 votes Jonathan 25,526 votes

*Jega announces "10 minutes maximum" break to enable the secretariat process two results that just arrived. Back from break with the following results:

Edo State: JONATHAN 286,869 votes Buhari 208,469 votes

Taraba State: JONATHAN 310,800 votes Buhari 261,326 votes

*With this, Buhari has already won the election, having achieved the required 25% votes in 24 states and scoring some 2.7 million votes than Jonathan. But the collation continues:

Sokoto State: BUHARI 671,926 votes Jonathan 152,199 votes

Delta State: JONATHAN 1,211,405 votes Buhari 48,910 votes

*Jega announces another break, says to reconvene by 8pm to collate the only outstanding result — from Borno State.

Finally, here is it, finally:

Borno State: BUHARI 473,543 votes Jonathan 25,640 votes

With this, Buhari’s victory is sealed: He wins Buhari is outrightly in 21 out of the country’s 36 states and secures the required 25 per cent votes in 26 states, beating the incumbent with over 2.5 million votes. Jonathan wins 15 states in addition to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

Candidates of the 12 other political parties that participated in the ballot settle for crumbs. We now await Buhari’s declaration as Nigeria’s new President. Meanwhile, Jega has called another break.

*Jega finally makes the much-awaited declaration at about 3:15 a.m., saying that Buhari beat Jonathan with a total of 15,424,921 votes as against Jonathan’s 12,853,162 votes.

Jega said that Buhari beat Jonathan by 2,571,759 votes, and won in 22 states of the federation, obtaining 25 per cent of the votes cast in 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) while Jonathan obtained 25 per cent of votes cast in 26 states and FCT. “Having satisfied the provisions of the law and having scored the highest number of votes cast, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari stands elected as President,” the INEC Chairman declared.

Buhari won 53.96 per cent of the total valid votes cast in the elections, clearing all seven states of the North-West geo-political zone comprising Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara, and in Benue, Kogi, Kwara and Niger in North-Central.

In the North-East, he won majority votes in Gombe, Adamawa, Bauchi, Yobe, and Borno, in addition to Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Lagos in the South-West.

Jonathan swept all the states in the South-East comprising Enugu, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Imo and the South-South states of Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Edo, Delta and Rivers.

He also clinched the majority ballots in Ekiti in the South-West, Taraba in the North-East, and Nasarawa, Plateau and FCT in the North-Central.

Candidates of the 12 other political parties that participated in the ballot settled for crumbs.

With this we draw the curtain of this live commentary of a historic election that sees an opposition presidential candidate ousting the incumbent. We thank you for your company and urge you to continue to make News Express your first choice for breaking news and updates from around the world.

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