Muhammadu Buhari to run against Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria elections
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Version 0 of 1. Nigeria’s former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari will run against President Goodluck Jonathan in February’s polls after a landslide win in the primaries. The elections are likely to be the most closely fought and tense since a return to democracy in 1999. Buhari, left, who turns 72 next week, is campaigning on an anti-corruption platform and has vowed to tackle growing insecurity in Africa’s most populous country. He earned a reputation for stamping out graft during his 20-month rule that began in 1983, but has since failed to win the top job in three attempts at the ballot box. The elections are a critical test of Nigeria’s democracy: an Islamist insurgency has claimed more than 10,000 lives in the past year alone and plummeting oil prices have battered the economy. “This election really is different because it is not just about who wins, but whether as a whole there is enough credibility, legitimacy and institutional integrity to challenge the very different values held by Boko Haram and everyone else that has no time for constitutional rule,” said Antony Goldman, a Nigeria specialist at PM Consulting. On Thursday, wearing white traditional robes and a skullcap, Buhari told crowds during his acceptance speech in Lagos: “The lives of the poor are bled dry while those of the wealthy soak in abundance. It’s time to end this demeaning chapter in our nation’s history.” If he loses, it is likely to exacerbate the perception in the north that power has become concentrated power in the oil-rich south of Africa’s top petroleum exporter. An attempt to juggle more than 250 ethnic groups has led to an unwritten agreement to rotate power between the Muslim-majority north and predominantly Christian south every two terms. Buhari is a northern Muslim while Jonathan is a Christian from the oil-producing south, who took office after his predecessor died midterm in 2010. Jonathan’s win the following year triggered three days of riots in the north that left 800 people dead and 65,000 displaced. “I’m not God, I can’t predict what will happen if [Buhari] loses. Let’s leave that to God, but people won’t be happy,” said Olusegun Arinze, a teacher waving the All Progressives’ Congress party flag at the convention during which Buhari selection was announced. Some saw the peaceful and well-organised convention – never guaranteed in Nigeria – as a first step in the right direction. “I think it is a good start that there hasn’t been any trouble, and all the candidates have behaved democratically with this vote,” said Tunde Williams, a 55-year-old shop owner. “What we have to do now is concentrate on what comes next.” Another convention-goer, Annie Owolabi, said she had brought her children to what she hopes will be a historical moment as power switches away from the ruling People’s Democratic party for the first time since the military relinquished power. “Things have to get better than what we’re seeing so far,” she said. “This is a country where we have oil yet we don’t have electricity. I’m very happy that Buhari won because he’s the only person that can challenge Jonathan. He has a good record against corruption whereas everywhere you look now it’s embezzle this, embezzle that.” |