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Nigeria Opposition Declares Victory, Says Nation Is 'Witnessing History'

Nigeria Opposition Declares Victory, Says Nation Is 'Witnessing History'
Reuters
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KATSINA, NIGERIA - MARCH 28: The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Mohammadu Buhari (C) arrives for registration at Gidan Niyam Sakin Yara polling station in Daura district of Katsina, Nigeria on March 28, 2015. Security has been beefed up as hundreds of thousands of voters are expected to vote in the Nigerian general elections after they were delayed for over a month due to Boko Haram. (Photo by Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

ABUJA, March 31 (Reuters) - Nigeria's opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) declared victory in the presidential election on Tuesday, saying Africa's most populous nation was "witnessing history."

"This is the first time in Nigeria that a sitting government will be voted out of power using purely democratic means," APC spokesman Lai Mohammed told Reuters at the house in the capital where party leader Muhammdu Buhari was watching the results come in. "The people of Nigeria have taken over."

He added that the APC had no reason to doubt that President Goodluck Jonathan would concede defeat.

"He said several times that he would relinquish power if he was voted out in a free and fair election," Mohammed said. (Reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Ed Cropley)

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Before You Go

Nigeria Election
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Nigerians wait to register before voting in Rejeina, Nigeria, March 28, 2015. (credit: AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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A woman from the Hausa tribe, with a red mark on her thumbnail indicating she has already validated her voting card, waits for friends to finish voting at a polling station in Daura, the home town of opposition candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
(03 of14)
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Nigerians vote in Kaduna, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Nigerian police officers keep watch as people queue to vote in Kaduna, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Nigerians wait for to register before voting in Jere, Nigeria, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Opposition candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari arrives to validate his voting card using a fingerprint reader, in his home town of Daura, March 28, 2015. (credit: AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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An elderly Nigerian woman arrives to validate her voting card using a fingerprint reader in the home town of opposition candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in Daura, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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Nigerians wait to register before voting in Rejeina, Nigeria, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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People displaced following attacks by Islamist militants lineup for accreditation before casting their votes, in Yola, Nigeria, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
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People displaced following attacks by Islamist militants raise their arms as they pass through security before casting their votes, in Yola, Nigeria, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
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Nigerians wait to register before voting in Jere, Nigeria, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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An elderly Nigerian woman validates her voting card using a fingerprint reader, in the home town of opposition candidate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in Daura, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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A man displaced by Islamist militant attacks casts his vote in Yola, Nigeria, March 28, 2015. (credit:AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
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Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan is registered to vote on March 28, 2015 in Otuoke. (credit:AFP/Getty Images)
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