Lagos – Nigeria goes to the polls in February 2023 to elect a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari who steps down after two terms in office.
Ahead of the crucial vote, 18 parties are expected to hold primaries to choose their presidential flag-bearers by June 3 in line with the guidelines of the electoral authority INEC.
The two leading parties – the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – will hold their primaries from this weekend.
Under an informal scheme to balance Nigeria’s ethnic and regional diversities, power is rotated between the mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
In the APC, some 25 aspirants are jostling for the ticket, but the main contenders are:
Yemi Osinbajo
Vice President Osinbajo, a university professor and senior lawyer has been Buhari’s deputy since 2015. The 65-year-old Christian from southwest Nigeria has promised to continue with his boss’s policies if given the mandate. He is regarded as a former ally of ex-Lagos governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, another contender from the region, though the two men are now competing in the primary.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu
The 70-year-old politician is seen as one of the men to beat for the ticket. A national leader of the APC, Tinubu was instrumental to Buhari’s election in 2015 after three unsuccessful bids. That victory, against an incumbent president, was the first opposition win in Nigeria’s history.
Tinubu was a former governor of Lagos credited with having helped the rapid economic development of Nigeria’s main commercial hub.
A wealthy southern Muslim, he said recently that becoming Nigeria’s president had been a life-long ambition.
Rotimi Amaechi
Amaechi recently resigned as Buhari’s transport minister to run for the APC ticket. The 57-year-old Christian was a former governor of oil-rich Rivers state. He has also been speaker of the state parliament and has a wide network of contacts and supporters across Nigeria. He is considered an influential and serious contender from the oil region.
Ahmed Lawan
Lawan is the current president of the Senate and the main contender from northern Nigeria for the APC ticket.
His entry has changed the dynamics of the race since it was assumed that, after Buhari’s tenure, the APC would zone the ticket to the mainly Christian south.
The main contenders, out of 15 aspirants, in the PDP are:
Atiku Abubakar
The 75-year-old former vice president has vied for the country’s top job five times. Rich, with a reputation as a bridge-builder, Atiku is the man to beat for the ticket in PDP. He was the party’s candidate in the last election in 2019, which he lost to Buhari’s APC.
Bukola Saraki
Former Senate president and two-time governor of central Kwara state, Saraki, 59 is making his second bid for the PDP ticket having lost to Atiku in 2019. He is a wealthy politician and heir to the Saraki political dynasty. His father, Olusola Saraki was Senate majority leader between 1979 and 1983.
Aminu Tambuwal
Tambuwal is current governor of Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria and was formerly speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives.
The 56-year-old lawyer is thought to enjoy tremendous support in his mainly Muslim north.
Ezenwo Nyesom Wike
Wike is governor of oil-rich Rivers state. A southern Christian, the 59-year-old lawyer is known as “Mr. Project” having been credited with landmark projects in his state.
Wike is a major funder of the PDP and is believed to wield enormous influence in the party.
If he gets the ticket, he will be the second person from the oil region to represent the PDP after former president Goodluck Jonathan.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@jeffphilips1
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