Former military ruler, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), is be hours away from being declared Nigeria’s new democratically elected President, News Express has learnt.

As at the break late last night in the collation of results, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate was leading incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with over 2 million votes, going by collated results from 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

States whose results have been collated are Ekiti, Ogun, Enugu, Kogi, Osun, Ondo, Oyo, Nasarawa, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kwara, Kaduna, Anambra, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Imo and Plateau.

Results from the remaining 18 states are to be collated when the process resumes by 10 this morning at the National Collation Centre, International Conference Centre, Abuja.

Credible sources have told News Express that Jonathan’s hopes that Buhari would not get the required spread of 25 per cent votes in two-third of the country have been dashed by returns from the remaining 18 states. “Buhari has secured the required 25 per cent votes in 27 states,” the source said, putting his percentage of the votes at about 56 per cent.

APC members are already jubilant, with the party’s campaign headquarters in Abuja being readied for a celebration after the formal announcement of the election result.

Last night, one of the party’s chieftains had dismissed the possibility of Jonathan closing the gap between him and Buhari. The man, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, told News Express: “My fingers are straight and cannot be crossed. Let us consider the states remaining – with our 2 million votes advantage – Rivers Vs Zamfara; Edo Vs Lagos; Delta Vs Bauchi; Ebonyi Vs Gombe; Cross River Vs Niger; Taraba Vs Adamawa. In addition, we still have APC states like Gombe, Yobe, Borno, etc, remaining. So where will this evil PDP manufacture the extra millions of votes to cancel our lead?”

The meaning: Except in the event of a last-minute miracle, the Jonathan era will end on May 29, 2015, with Buhari making history as the first opposition politician to occupy the Aso Villa in Abuja.

•Photo shows Buhari.