Voters in Nigeria began voting yesterday in a mixed presidential election in Africa’s most populous country mired in economic and security crises. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari (80) has not run for two terms that have witnessed worsening insecurity and poverty in the country where 60% of the population is under the age of 25.
For the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1999, two elections could be held in Nigeria after the popularity of the former governor of the state challenged the dominance of the two main parties.
More than 87 million voters were invited to cast their votes in 176,000 polling stations to elect a president to replace Buhari from among 18 candidates, in addition to deputies and senators, and about six million voters out of 93 million registered have not withdrawn their voting cards and therefore they will not go to polling stations. .
And these elections are crucial as Nigeria, with a population of 216 million, is expected to become the third most populous country in the world in 2050, and the West African region is threatened with a sharp decline in democracy. and the spread of violence.
Nigeria has become a global cultural force thanks to the Nollywood sector, the very powerful Nigerian film industry and Afrobeat music that swept the planet with artists like Burna Boy and Wiz Kid, but the next president of the largest economy on the African continent and its largest oil country will inherit a number of problems, from criminal and armed acts of violence in the north and center to separatist riots in the southeast, hyperinflation and endemic poverty.
Fuel and banknote shortages have recently led to riots, and the three leaders who won the vote promised change, including Paula Tinubu (70), a ruling party candidate who claims he is the only person who can reform Nigeria and belongs to to the former Governor of Lagos (1999-2007), Muslim. He was accused of corruption and denied it, as was Atik Abu Bakr (76), a candidate for the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party, who ruled from 1999 to 2015. This is the sixth presidential election in which this former vice-president (1999-2007), a Muslim, is running and comes from the north.
But in the person of these two veteran candidates, a third candidate appeared, very popular, especially among young people. Former Governor of Anambra (Southeast) Peter Obi (61) is a Christian and supported by the Labor Party.
He attracts the younger generation and voters in his region.
