1979 Nigerian Presidential Election
The twelve two-thirds election11 August 1979 · The Second Republic
Under the 1979 constitution, in order to be elected president on the first ballot a candidate needed to receive both the most votes nationwide and at least 25% of the vote in two-thirds of the states. However, at the time of the election, Nigeria had nineteen states, two-thirds of which in exact figures is 12.66.
President before
Olusegun Obasanjo
Elected President
Elected President
Shehu Shagari
NPN
Winning share
33.8%
Turnout
—
The result
| Shehu Shagari | National Party of Nigeria | 5,688,857 | 33.77% |
| Obafemi Awolowo | Unity Party of Nigeria | 4,916,551 | 29.18% |
| Nnamdi Azikiwe | Nigerian People's Party | 2,822,523 | 16.75% |
| Aminu Kano | People's Redemption Party | 1,732,113 | 10.28% |
| Waziri Ibrahim | Great Nigeria People's Party | 1,686,489 | 10.01% |