Nigeria elders stake claim to presidency

Buhari, Abubakar in the hat for February 16 vote with 60 other hopefuls

Nigerians will choose on February 16 between two septuagenarians to lead Africa’s largest democracy: President Muhammadu Buhari and former vicepresident Atiku Abubakar.

The pair have run for president nine times between them.

There are more than 60 other candidates, though their chances of winning are slim as the wealth and patronage networks of the two main parties drive the politics of Africa’s top oil producer and most populous country.

Buhari’s 2015 victory with his All Progressives Congress (APC) party was built on three promises: to rid Nigeria of endemic corruption, fix the economy and tackle security threats.

The government says it is making progress but the military’s efforts to fight the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency and its Islamic State-allied offshoot, now in its 10th year, are crumbling.

The economy entered and climbed out of recession under Buhari, yet the average Nigerian is still getting poorer; and opponents say his government is failing to tackle corruption, targeting only the president’s enemies and ignoring allegations against his allies.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say the army has been responsible for human rights abuses, including the massacre of protesters.

The army has said its use of force is justified.

After he spent five months in Britain in 2017 receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment, opposition groups and other critics said Buhari was unfit for office and his administration was beset by inertia.

But the president has said he is strong enough to serve.

If Buhari wins again, Nigeria would be in for another four years of political torpor and disregard for rights, his opponents say.

The president said he would continue to develop the rail and road network if re-elected for a second term. He also vowed to expand a nationwide vocational skills programme, improve access to credit for entrepreneurs and continue his fight against corruption.

Abubakar, the candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), has been caught up in corruption allegations since serving as vicepresident from 1999-2007.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

His businesses include a port logistics firm and a private university.

He wants to privatise parts of the state oil company and create a $25bn (R340bn) fund to support private sector infrastructure investment. Nigeria is deeply divided. The north is mainly Muslim and the south is largely Christian and the population is fairly evenly split between religions. There are also more than 200 ethnic groups.

Divisions have led to an unofficial power-sharing agreement among Nigeria’s political elite. The presidency is supposed to alternate between the north and south after every two four-year terms.

Buhari, a northern Muslim, is in his first term, having held the post since 2015.

His predecessor, the PDP’s Goodluck Jonathan, is a southern Christian. In keeping with the accord, the PDP selected Abubakar, a northerner, as its candidate for 2019.

As it is not the turn of a southerner, and both Abubakar and Buhari are Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group – one of the largest in the north – the chance of election violence around ethnicity, religion and region is reduced.

However, the south has favoured the PDP in the past, while the north is Buhari’s stronghold. –

There are more than 60 others, though their chances of winning are slim