Nigeria

The elections are the biggest democratic exercise in Africa, with 87 million people eligible to vote.

He has been dogged by accusations of corruption and cronyism, which he denies. The wealthy businessman served as governor of the south-eastern Anambra State from 2006 to 2014. The new notes were introduced in order to tackle inflation, and also vote-buying. A candidate needs to have the most votes and 25% of ballots cast in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states to be declared the winner. "As a Nigerian you expect any eventuality, so I came out with my power bank and a bottle of water. He is known as a political godfather in the south-west region, where he wields huge influence, but like Mr Abubakar, has also been dogged by allegations of corruption over the years and poor health, both of which he denies. Most people consider the election a referendum on the APC, which has overseen a period of economic hardship and worsening insecurity. Most of his career has been spent in the corridors of power, having worked as a top civil servant, vice-president and a prominent businessman. On the eve of the election a member of the House of Representatives was arrested with almost $500,000 (£419,000) in cash, and a list of people he was supposed to give it to, police say. Although he was in the PDP before then, he is seen as a relatively fresh face and enjoys fervent support among some sections of Nigeria's youth, especially in the south. Tens of thousands of polling stations are counting the results, which will be collated and sent to the electoral headquarters in the capital Abuja. But voting was postponed to Sunday at 141 polling stations in the oil-rich southern state of Bayelsa because of disruptions.

Organized crime, terrorist violence, ethnic and cultural tensions, corruption, nepotism, and state violence are all critical issues for the next leader to ...

The election and its outcome are both critical for Nigeria’s democracy, and for Africa overall, Kwaja said. That’s in addition to global inflation and [a cost of living crisis](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64417130) that has forced doctors and other young professionals to leave the country in search of better opportunities elsewhere. “Each election gets a little bit better, they learn from the experiences of the last time,”Siegle said. Farmers and herders often compete over resources limited by encroaching urbanization and climate change, Kendhammer told Vox; though that conflict is layered upon longer-running ethnic and cultural tensions, the proliferation of small arms in the past decade has made the conflict more deadly. [Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/24/nigeria-election-obi-tinubu-atiku/) are frontrunners. While groups like Boko Haram and Islamic State Western African Province (ISWAP) “are less militarily able to disrupt lives than they were five or six years ago, that’s the good news,” Kendhammer said. Whoever wins the 2023 contest, whether via Saturday’s polls or during a later runoff should no candidate win a majority of the vote in this round, he’ll have his work cut out for him preserving Nigeria’s young democracy in the face of [democratic backsliding](https://www.vox.com/2022/2/5/22919160/coup-guinea-bissau-africa-burkina-faso-sudan-why) throughout the continent and the multiple problems facing Nigerians. In the northeast, Islamist terrorist violence continues despite the claim by the Buhari government that Boko Haram has been defeated. Though the two traditional parties, Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are expected to continue their dominance in the National Assembly, according to a January report from [the Africa Center for Strategic Studies](https://africacenter.org/spotlight/elections-2023-nigeria-sierra-leone-zimbabwe-gabon-liberia-madagascar-drc/), the same won’t necessarily hold true for the presidency. “He hasn’t been part of the ‘godfather’ political stereotype that we see with Bola Tinubu or Atiku Abubukar,” Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies told Vox in an interview. The replacement notes haven’t been widely disbursed, creating a cash shortage in a country where Organized crime, terrorist violence, ethnic and cultural tensions, corruption, nepotism, and state violence are all critical issues for the next leader to address.

LAGOS, Nigeria -Voting took place across Nigeria on Saturday, to decide one of the most competitive and unpredictable polls in years.

Many both young and old said they were voting for the first time. Bus stops, the front of restaurants, pharmacies and schools, were converted to polling units and lines winding round the block in the heat. As always, the election brought ordinary life to an eerie standstill.

Nigeria was counting ballots on Sunday, a day after a historically tight election among three frontrunners competing for the presidency of Africa's most ...

"Voting is still in progress well beyond the approved hours," said voter Kabiru Sani, 37. [Mali](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/mali/) and [Burkina Faso](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/burkina-faso/) and growing Islamist militancy have taken the region's democracy back a step. Fuel and cash shortages caused by a bank note exchange in the run-up to the election also left many Nigerians struggling more than usual in a country already hit by more than 20-percent inflation. The rules reflect a country almost equally split between the mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, and with three main ethnic groups across the regions: Yoruba in the southwest, Hausa/Fulani in the north and Igbo in the southeast. [Nigeria](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/nigeria/) still battling a 14-year jihadist insurgency in the northeast that has displaced two million people, bandit militias in the northwest and separatist gunmen in the southeast. [race](https://www.france24.com/en/tag/elections/), three stand out: Bola Ahmed Tinubu, candidate of the ruling party (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition party (PDP), and [Peter Obi](https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20230220-can-nigeria-s-peter-obi-ride-his-newfound-momentum-all-the-way-to-presidency), backed by the Labour Party.

Voting was marred by long delays as polling stations failed to open on time in some areas because of logistical problems and security incidents.

He has been dogged by accusations of corruption and cronyism, which he denies. The wealthy businessman served as governor of the south-eastern Anambra State from 2006 to 2014. The new notes were introduced in order to tackle inflation, and also vote-buying. A candidate needs to have the most votes and 25% of ballots cast in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states to be declared the winner. "As a Nigerian you expect any eventuality, so I came out with my power bank and a bottle of water. He is known as a political godfather in the south-west region, where he wields huge influence, but like Mr Abubakar, has also been dogged by allegations of corruption over the years and poor health, both of which he denies.

Voters in Nigeria electing their next President, Vice President and Members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

“Bottles were flying in the air and masked men approached the polling unit. We’ve been here since morning and this people came from nowhere and threw everything out,” Mrs Okonta, a voter, told the BBC. “There was pandemonium, people ran and scuttled away for their lives.