LAGOS (HRNW) – Nigerians will vote on Saturday in what could be their most credible and close electoral contest since military rule ended nearly a quarter of a century ago – and the first in which a presidential candidate who is not from one of the two main parties stands a chance.
Former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) faces Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi, a wild- card candidate who defected from the PDP to the smaller Labour Party and now leads in at least five opinion polls.
Obi, 61, has used a slick social media campaign to galvanise the vote of restless and increasingly disaffected youth, fed up with traditional politics and the old men who tend to dominate them – Tinubu and Abubakar are both in their 70s.
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But analysts question whether the polls Obi leads are reliable and note he does not have the resources or extensive political base – built up over decades – that the other two have.
Whoever Nigerians choose to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari – only the second incumbent in Nigerian history to bow out willingly after serving two democratic terms – will have to resolve a litany of crises that have worsened under the retired army general’s administration.