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Nigeria’s Buhari to face political heavyweight opponent in re-election bid
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Oct 7, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Nigerian President
Muhammadu Buhari will run for re-election in February 2019 against former
vice president Atiku Abubakar, a Muslim from the country’s north who was
nominated on Sunday as the main opposition party’s poll contender.
Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler, was the sole candidate for his
ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, so his confirmation by some
7,000 delegates gathered in the capital Abuja was a mere formality on
Saturday.
The APC swept to power in 2015 with the first opposition victory at the
ballot box in the country’s history.
But next year’s presidential race appears to have tightened in recent
months with the APC hit by a wave of defections over Buhari’s leadership
style.
On Sunday, delegates to a weekend convention of the former ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), nominated Abubakar, 71, as his challenger for next
years poll.
The politician and business tycoon has made four previous attempts at the
top job in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.
Abubakar comes from the Muslim-majority north, and his nomination follows
an unwritten rule in Nigeria that the presidency should alternate every two
terms between a candidate from the north and south.
The PDP vote was held in the oil hub of Port Harcourt, in the heartland of
the southern Niger delta.
Abubakar garnered 1,532 votes, far outstripping his closest rival Aminu
Tambuwal, the governor of northern Sokoto state who scored 693 votes.
The Eurasia Consultancy group said Saturday the outcome of the PDP primary
would determine whether Buhari “loses his incumbency advantage”, adding that
Tambuwal would be the “strongest challenger”.
Port Harcourt streets were festooned with conference banners, while police
said thousands of officers were deployed to the PDP primary.
Despite humble beginnings in northern Nigeria, Abubakar rose through the
ranks of the customs service for two decades, to eventually become the
institution’s number two during military rule. The position is thought to
have brought him enormous wealth but he then entered the private sector,
investing in oil services and agriculture, among other industries.
From there he joined the civilian government where he became one of
Nigeria’s most recognisable and enduring politicians.
But his official, political and family life has been dogged by
controversies ranging from his numerous wives and more than 20 children to
allegations of corruption.
– ‘Baba Go Slow’ –
Buhari indicated in April that he planned to run for a second term.
After running unopposed at the APC convention, “his name shall be
forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission as the candidate
of the party in the 2019 presidential election,” said Kayode Fayemi,
governor-elect of southwestern Ekiti state.
The retired general, who headed a military regime in the 1980s, has faced
growing pressure to step down because of failing health after spending
several months in London last year treating an undisclosed ailment.
Dubbed “Baba Go Slow” because he took six months to appoint cabinet
ministers, he has also faced attacks for his handling of the economy, which
plunged into recession in 2016.
He has also come under criticism on security issues, including the Boko
Haram insurgency in the northeast, long-running farmer-herder clashes in the
centre and militancy and kidnapping in the south.
“The fact that nobody came forward to challenge the president is an
indication that the party members are satisfied with his performance and they
want to see more of him in office,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu told
AFP.
Nigerian law allows for a president to serve a maximum of two four-year
terms.
Voters in the former British colony will elect governors and lawmakers as
well as the president in elections set for February and March next year.
BSS/AFP/RY/1947 hrs