OUTSIDER Peter Obi defeated his ruling party challenger to win Nigeria’s commercial hub of Lagos on Monday, in an upset two days after a presidential election marred by delays and complaints of irregularities.
A Reuters tally suggested that Bola Tinubu, of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, was well ahead in other areas – though around two thirds of states in Africa’s most populous country still have to declare.
But the win in Lagos state was a major boost for Labour Party leader Obi, whose run shook up politics by challenging candidates from the two long-established movements that have alternated in power since the end of army rule in 1999.
Obi got 582,454 votes in Lagos state, ahead of 572 606 Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos who had focused a lot of his campaign there. Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), came third with 75 750 according to provisional electoral commission data.
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