Abuja - Nigerians were jubilant Wednesday after Barack Obama was declared the 44th president of the United States of America.

Many Nigerians stayed glued to their television sets to monitor the election.

The moment Obama was announced to have won Ohio and Pennsylvania, cheering erupted in beer parlours and homes across Africa's most populous nation.

Lai Mohammed, spokesman of Action Congress, Nigeria's main opposition party, whose 2007 presidential candidate is still contesting the election of Umaru Yar'Adua, hailed the poll as an example to other nations.

"Obama did not go to stuff ballot boxes or embark on other forms of election rigging as some politicians here would have done, so it was clear to McCain and to other stakeholders that Obama would win glaringly," he said. (dpa)