Nigeria: Former Vice President Adhikari Abu Bakr is running as an opposition candidate in the presidential election

“Today we are writing history and we hope it will bring about fundamental change,” Abu Bakr told his supporters gathered in Abuja, where the referendum was held.

Mr. from the northern part of the country. Abu Bakr, 75, a Muslim, was elected after the main party of his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and will be elected president for the sixth time in Africa, the country’s most populous country.

>>> Read more: Nigeria: The ruling party has postponed the presidential election

The ruling Progressive Congress (APC) is holding its primary meeting from June 6 to 8 to select a candidate after President Mohammed Buhari, who has announced that he will not run again after his two terms in office.

– Rotation between North and South –

In an effort to reconcile this country, which is highly divided between the Muslim North and the Christian South, it provides an unspoken rule for rotating the presidency every two times between candidates from the North and South, where nearly 250 ethnic groups live.

However, the former Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Customs (1999-2007) Mr. Abu Bakr, like President Bukhari, is from the North and, unlike most APC candidates, is from the South.

Within the ruling party, Bologna’s former governor of Lagos, Bola Dinupu, and his former vice president, Yemi Ozinbajo, are two key contenders seeking to invest. Bukhari’s government.

Mr Buhari did not support any candidate, and some analysts said he would seek a consensus candidate to keep the APC factions together before the February 2023 general election.

A coalition of smaller parties rallied for Bukhari’s victory in the 2015 election, as the APC struggled to contain its internal divisions.

– Security, an important issue –

As the country suffers from widespread insecurity, security will be a major issue in the February 2023 election.

>>> Read more: Presidential election in Nigeria: Candidates running for primary

The Nigerian military is stationed on several fronts, especially in the Northeast, where there have been more than 10 years of jihadi insurgency and criminal gangs looting, kidnapping and killing people in the northwest.

Since returning to civilian rule from the military dictatorship in 1999, Nigeria has held six national elections, largely marred by fraud, technical issues, violence and legal challenges.

Africa’s largest economy, weakened by the impact of the Govt-19 epidemic, is now bearing the brunt of the war in Ukraine, which has pushed up fuel and food prices across the continent.

Police say at least 31 people have been killed in a stampede during a food distribution at a church in southern Nigeria on Saturday.

In recent years, Nigeria has experienced a number of tragedies during food-related congestion, especially during an operation organized by a humanitarian organization in the northern state of Borneo in 2021 in which seven women were trampled to death. In the crowd.