Nigerians will vote on Saturday in the closest and most authentic election campaign since the end of military dictatorship 25 years ago. The first in which one of two major political parties will propose a presidential candidate from outside.
Former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) opposes Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi, a generic contender who transferred from the PDP to the Labor Party. Five elections are underway.
Obi, 61, utilized a clever social media effort to collect the views of unsatisfied and increasingly outraged young people fed up with traditional politics and older people’s dominance: Tinubu and Abubakar are 60.
However, experts dispute his lead since he lacks the resources and political foundation of the other two contenders.
Whoever succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari, the second incumbent president in Nigerian history to voluntarily resign after two democratic terms, would face a host of issues under the command of a retired senior American military officer.
These include banditry and militant violence. Which now affects much of the country, systemic corruption that stifles investment and favours the well-connected. Plus high inflation, and serious cash shortages due to the failed introduction of new banknotes late last year.
The candidates’ solutions were similar.
Representatives are also elected.
According to Baze University Abuja mass media professor Abiodun Adeniyi, This election is one of Nigeria’s closest.
VOTES QUESTIONED
Around a third of respondents in Obi’s polls were hesitant or unwilling to announce their choice. They targeted educated, internet-savvy people, and one required a smartphone.
Nnamdi Obasi, senior Nigeria expert at the International Crisis Group, advises caution in these elections.
These internet surveys are for the uninformed, yet many people, especially in the north, are illiterate and unconnected.
Obi’s supporters are in the south, whereas Abubakar and Tinubu are popular in the north.
Although the winning candidate just needs 25% of the vote in two-thirds of the 36 states, a runoff is unlikely in Nigeria.
Islamist unrest in the north-east and banditry in the north-west and south-east might prevent thousands of Nigerians from voting.
Nonetheless, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reduced voter fraud. This year’s law requires electronic voting machines, card readers to confirm voter registration in a central database. Plus the withdrawal of election results from polling stations when the number of votes cast exceeds the number of registered voters.
Nigerians now trust this strategy.
“We thank God that this time the elections will be fair,” said 51-year-old Lagos garment dealer Ngozi Nwosi at a Tinubu rally.
We trust INEC. Nigerians will elect their preferred candidates.”
