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Story highlights Muhammadu Buhari's party says incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan has conceded Buhari is a 72-year-old retired major general who ruled in Nigeria in the 1980s Jonathan has been in power since 2010

All Progressives Congress party spokesman Garba Shehu confirmed Jonathan had made the call.

The Independent National Electoral Commission is still announcing the final tally in the polls, but early numbers indicate Buhari, now the President-elect, has an overwhelming majority of votes.

Buhari ruled Nigeria from late 1983 until August 1985 after ousting his predecessor in a coup.

His 20-month rule was known for what he described as a "war on indiscipline," a tough regime that some say was marred by human rights abuses.

The 72-year-old retired major general's experience as a military ruler has variably been viewed as a plus or minus in present-day Nigeria, where the government has been locked in a deadly battle with the militant group Boko Haram.

His campaign has focused on security and ending corruption in Nigeria.

Read more: Who is Nigeria's Muhammadu Buhari?

Violent protests after Nigeria's presidential elections Saturday sparked calls for calm from the two main candidates and a warning by the United States and Britain against political interference.

Demonstrators fired gunshots and torched a local electoral office in Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers state on Sunday as they marched to protest the elections amid claims of vote-rigging and voter intimidation.

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Buhari's party claims victory in Nigeria poll

Nigerian opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari claimed a historic victory Tuesday, defeating President Goodluck Jonathan in the countrys first democratic ouster of a sitting leader.

With just one of 36 states left to deliver results, Buhari had 15.1 million votes to Jonathans 11.7 million, according to an unofficial tally by the Reuters news agency. Jonathan called Buhari to concede late Tuesday afternoon.

"At about 5 minutes to 5, President Jonathan called General Muhammadu Buhari, the winner of the elections, to congratulate him," opposition All Progressive Congress spokesman Lai Mohammed said.

Mohammed called Jonathans action heroic and said it would dramatically reduce tension in one of the most bitterly contested elections in Nigerian history, according to Reuters.

"There had always been this fear that he might not want to concede, but he will remain a hero for this move. The tension will go down dramatically. Anyone who tries to foment trouble on the account that they have lost the election will be doing so purely on his own," Mohammed said.

The governing Peoples Democratic Party had questioned the results of Saturdays election in at least seven states, but ultimately conceded. Buharis All Progressives Congress had unsuccessfully called for the cancellation of results in southeastern Rivers state, at the heart of Nigerias crucial oil sector, after incidents of what it complained were intimidation and violence.

The opposition APC sent mass text messages to its supporters, urging them to remain indoors and celebrate with their families, warning that the PDP had hired thugs to shoot and bomb those celebrating.

Those warnings were joyously ignored in Kano, the country's second largest city, which is in Buhari's heartland in the countrys north.

Cars raced at top speed with horns blaring, swooping from one side of the road to the other, with people almost spilling from windows, waving the opposition symbol, straw brooms and opposition flags. The air was filled with the smell of burning rubber as motorcycles did crazy skids. Some motorcycle riders drifted along hands free, their arms out by their sides.

People walked around with cellphones glued to their ears, listening as the final results trickled in. Mustafa Mohammed, 25, a student, shared dual headphone wires with a friend as he listened to the news on a smartphone.

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Muhammadu Buhari claims historic win in Nigeria presidential election

Maher progressives that stupid?
Maher asking a good question.

By: Truth Detector

The rest is here:
Maher progressives that stupid? - Video

But other observers say NDP's fortunes rest on the Liberals.

'Job number one is to criticize,' said Broadbent Institute executive director Rick Smith.

Canadian progressives have a plan to oust Stephen Harper in the 2015 federal election and it is starting to come together, said the executive director of the Broadbent Institute, a progressive think-tank named for former federal New Democrat leader Ed Broadbent.

Rick Smith spoke to The Tyee on Sunday after the institute's annual Progress Summit wrapped up in Ottawa. The three days of panels, speeches and mixers provided an opportunity for progressives to discuss politics and how to increase progressive power in Canada.

Though the institute doesn't officially endorse any party, its values and policies are often similar to the NDP's.

"Job number one is to criticize," Smith said, "to draw the curtain back on the craziness of the Conservative government's ideas, but also to formulate in a more coherent and positive way an exciting new progressive agenda."

The conservative movement's organizing efforts have consistently outdone those of the progressive side for the last 10 years, and progressives must "catch up" to gain power, he said.

The Progress Summit initially expected just 600 attendees and ended up drawing 900, which stretched the venue, a Delta hotel, to its limits, with people spilling out of conference room doors at some panels.

"Stephen Harper should take note of the fact that 900 highly skilled, highly motivated progressive activists got together in Ottawa and left today with a game plan," Smith said.

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Progressives Must 'Catch up' to Win in 2015, Says Broadbent Chief (in News)

Story highlights Vote-counting postponed until Tuesday morning, election leader says in tweet Partial vote count shows opposition candidate leading in Nigeria, Reuters reports Incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari faced off in election

Reuters, which has collated results from three-quarters of Nigeria's states as they're broadcast live on state TV, reported that Buhari has so far obtained 11.5 million votes, Jonathan 9.5 million.

Electoral officers from each of the 36 states are taking turns declaring results from their respective states at the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The vote count was stopped Monday night and will resume at 10 a.m. Tuesday (5 a.m. ET), according to a tweet from Attahiru Jega, the chairman of the electoral commission. Jega will be the one to announce final results.

Violent protests after Nigeria's presidential elections Saturday sparked calls for calm from the two main candidates and a warning by the United States and Britain against political interference.

Protesters fired gunshots and torched a local electoral office in Nigeria's oil-rich Rivers state on Sunday as they marched to protest the elections, amid claims of vote-rigging and voter intimidation.

Heavy rain eventually forced the protesters to leave, but there are fears it will take more than rain to stop further protests and violence. More than 800 people were killed in post-election violence across Nigeria's north in 2011 after charges that those elections were illegitimate.

Now Nigeria has just held what are thought to be the closest elections since a return to democracy in 1999 after decades of military rule. The two main candidates are incumbent Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party and retired Buhari of All Progressives Congress.

Goodluck Jonathan, left, and Mohammadu Buhari renewed pledges for peaceful elections on March 26.

Jonathan and Buhari last week issued a pledge reaffirming their commitment to "free, fair and credible elections" after their signing of the Abuja Accord in January.

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Opposition candidate appears ahead in Nigerian election