Caesarean by phone light - giving birth in a warzone. Many young men see kidnappings as a job.. A BBC investigation has found evidence suggesting some results from Nigeria's presidential election may have been manipulated. Share. The health sector also requires significant improvement, as both former president Muhammadu Buhari and current President Bola Tinubu have sought medical treatment abroad. Broadcast live on television on 27 February, in front of a bank of microphones, Oyigbo election official, Dr Dickson Ariaga, announced his name and that he worked for the Federal College of Education in Omoku. No candidate cared about peoples security, he said, turning his wrists up to show the scars left on his arms by his kidnappers beatings. Here is a country that has stumbled a number of times, but has never faltered. Olusola Olaniyi, 63, was kidnapped in February 2021 while running a digging site for a farm on the outskirts of Ibadan, Nigeria. Abubakar, one of Nigerias richest businessmen, ran for president in 2019 and lost to Buhari. In the southeast, separatist movements have attacked dozens of police stations, prisons and courthouses. He will concentrate on the economy. She was later rescued by the Nigerian military, but at least eight people were killed and 26 injured in the attack. Regina Ngorngor, a 47-year-old librarian, was in a first-class coach and hid under a seat when the gunmen ordered passengers to get out. Many young people have left the country, seeing no future at home. Oduala was among the leaders of unprecedented nationwide demonstrations held in 2020 by young Nigerians to protest police brutality and bad governance. with Heidi Campbell and Paul Brandeis Raushenbush. This is a riddle that the Tinubu administration must solve. March 31, 2015 By Bill Sweeney, President and CEO On March 28, Nigerians went to the polls and voted decisively for change. By Thomas Hansen LAGOS -The topic of conversation in Lagos these days is the country's much-awaited elections. 26. In 2017 and 2018 the Nigerian economy inched out of a recession and is projected to grow by 2.3 percent in 2019. . Supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi attend a campaign rally ahead of the Nigerian presidential election in Lagos, Nigeria, Feb. 11, 2023. The results released so far show that Buhari won with approximately 56.3 percent of votes against Jonathans 43.6 percent. The next government faces major challenges ahead. His victory in the Readmore. One of the major failures of Mr Buhari's administration was its inability to end industrial strikes by Nigerian university teachers, despite promises made while seeking power in 2015 and 2019 . Nigeria has fared badly over the course of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. The first in-depth account of the sudden growth of Chinas sovereign wealth funds and their transformative impact on global markets, domestic and multinational businesses, and international politics. The election will also be a powerful affirmation for the democratic process in a West-African sub-region where a recent spate of coups dtat has heightened fears about a return to the era of military rule. Transparent elections will strengthen the countrys leadership role in the continent, both as an example of successfully resolving conflicts and as a stalwart against undemocratic transitions. The second local government . NIGERIA had hoped to have a better record with the conduct of the 2019 general elections. Bola Tinubu won the national presidential vote by 1.8m votes over his nearest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP. Presidential candidates usually balance their tickets, choosing a running mate from the other side of Nigerias religious divide, but the APC candidate has chosen a fellow Muslim. And what we found was that the votes for Peter Obi's Labour Party had decreased sharply in Rivers state. Eight months earlier, her 17-year-old son Emmanuel was studying for a chemistry exam at his boarding school, when gunmen stormed the building and kidnapped him, along with dozens of classmates. Tinubu portrays himself as a human rights advocate, but critics question his commitment to accountability in cases of abuse. The international community should increase support for the new Nigerian government in its efforts to eradicate Boko Haram. His first election aroused great enthusiasm. You are the best candidate among all the contestants, and Nigerians have chosen well. 33. He said he struggles to fall asleep at night and often wakes up from nightmares. Successful conduct will mark another important milestone for Africas most populous country as it continues to put decades of military rule behind it. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/young-voters-in-nigeria-mobilize-in-record-numbers-ahead-of-presidential-election, While Africas sports betting industry grows, many worry about who will lose, Africa faced extreme weather and an international community distracted by Ukraine in 2022, As catastrophic floods hit Nigeria, families left to flee. In the northeast, militants with the extremist groups Boko Haram and local affiliates of the Islamic State have killed at least 10,000 people in the past five years, and displaced 2.5 million people. The closure will take effect from midnight on March 25 until the same time March 28, after polling closes for presidential and parliamentary . I did pursue this commitment relentlessly, in spite of the expected pushback. Nigerians will hope that he lives up to that promise and lead the healing of their nation. We must fight corruption, poverty, inconsistencies in policies and many other problems confronting us, but dont pity me, I asked for the job, I campaigned for it, no excuses, I will live up to the bill delivered. Its taking peoples entire savings, Idayat Hassan, the director of the Abuja-based Center for Democracy and Development, said about the ransoms. I address you today, in my last assignment as a democratically elected President of our great and well-endowed nation, with a deep sense of gratitude to God, a great deal of appreciation to the Nigerian people, and a modest sense of fulfilment. I seek a government of national competence. All Rights Reserved. To improve service delivery, we began the implementation of a number of reforms aimed at producing an Efficient, Productive, Incorruptible and Citizen-oriented (EPIC) Federal Civil Service and the results are beginning to show. Some IFES Nigeria employees reported not having been verified until 5 p.m. INEC eventually decided to allow manual accreditation through the voter registration list when the card readers were not working properly. As his term ends in June 2015, we should all celebrate his legacy. At an event held on the eve of his inauguration, Mr Tinubu assured Nigerians that he is ready for the challenges ahead. In particular, the real and perceived marginalization of the north must be addressed through more fair allocation of resources and targeted investments to promote economic activities in the region. In contrast, Mr Obi's vote had fallen by over 50,000. Despite the highly politicized environment surrounding INEC and elections in Nigeria, Chairman Jega has managed to maintain a reputation for being impartial and professional and is well respected by Nigerian civil society and citizens. My aim is higher than that. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for the snap vote after the May 2023 Greek legislative election did not result in any party gaining a majority, although his centre-right New Democracy made unanticipated gains and increased its share of the vote. Bola Tinubu, 71, has been sworn in as Nigeria's president after winning the country's most competitive election since the end of military rule in 1999. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Responding to Nigeria's looming fuel shortage crisis, caused by removal the removal of a government subsidy, Isa Sanusi, Acting Director for Amnesty International Nigeria, said: "President Bola Tinubu's decision to remove the fuel subsidy has left millions of Nigerians terrified about the knock-on effects that it will have on their daily lives. Buhari won the Nigerian presidential. Some members of the ruling party see the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket as Tinubus biggest chance of securing votes in the Muslim-dominated north, which has more registered voters than the Christian-dominated south. However, these additional tally sheets would have increased the totals for each party, not decreased them. There is a medium to high level risk of violence around the elections. @ElianPeltier, A version of this article appears in print on, Ahead of Crucial Election, Security Crises and Kidnappings Plague Nigeria, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/24/world/africa/nigeria-election-kidnappings.html. Published May 29, 2023 2:03 p.m. PDT. He joined The Times in 2017 and was previously based in Paris and London. Weekly. When Buhari came to power in 2015, . And in July, in the countrys capital, Abuja, militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province broke into one of the countrys most secure prisons and freed hundreds of detainees. That promise was not fulfilled by Mr Buharis administration. While the results of the vote reflected the will of Nigerians, there is never a perfect election and the 2015 general election in Nigeria was no exception. In 2019, only 34% of registered voters cast their ballot in the presidential vote. Reina Patel contributed to research for this article. Subscribe to Heres the Deal, our politics A runoff will be held unless one candidate gets at least one-quarter of the votes in each of at least two-thirds of all the states. There was a problem processing your submission. The credibility of Nigeria's democracy is also under scrutiny due to malfunctions, violence, and challenges to the election results. Many of these votes will take place in countries in such environments. However, the electoral commission postponed it by six weeks to 28 March, mainly due to the poor distribution of Permanent Voter Cards, and also to curb ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in certain north-eastern states. In Kaduna, in northwestern Nigeria on Thursday. Now, a week after the announcement of the results, Nigeria is on the path for a peaceful, democratic transfer of power. Election observers and critics blamed the three leading presidential candidates for this division. Young people have made a third-party candidate with social media appeal into a serious contender in the polls. With youth gangs and armed bandits finding that kidnapping for ransom produces big payoffs, such crimes have only multiplied. Peter Obi of the Labour Party of Nigeria (LP). 37.