Buhari of the APC polled 15,191,847 votes to beat Atiku Abubakar of the APC who polled 11,262,978 votes.

The vote was conducted on February 23, 2019.

Buhari defeated his closest challenger Atiku with a vote margin of 3,928,869; and he made sure to let his ministers know what his election success meant for them all.

While receiving a congratulatory card on behalf of the civil service from the Head of Service (HoS), Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, Buhari joked: “HoS, it seems this card is taller than large”, generating raucous laughter from the hall. 

Buhari then went on to say that he was pleased that members of the FEC felt the need to congratulate him because doing so also amounted to congratulating themselves.

“If I had lost, none of you would return to the cabinet!”, an aide quotes Buhari as saying at the meeting, to more rounds of laughter.

And in typical self- deprecating style, Buhari said campaigning round Nigeria’s 36 States and the federal capital should lay to rest doubts concerning his health. 

“I went round the 36 States, sometimes two States in a day not just so that no State would complain of being left out but also to prove to the other side that I am fit. And their absolute silence since then showed that I succeeded,” he added to more laughter. 

The Nigerian leader has been in and out of London on medical vacations since he was first elected democratic president in March of 2015.

Earlier, the president alongside Vice President Yemi Osinbajo held an open session with cabinet members to commemorate the APC’s victory at the polls.

Atiku Abubakar of the PDP has vowed to upturn Buhari's victory at the courts, alleging that he was rigged out.

The federal cabinet will be dissolved in time for Buhari’s second term inauguration of Wednesday, May 29, 2019, according to presidency spokesperson Femi Adesina.