Nigerians vote in crucial presidential election
 |
| Ribadu, Shekaru, Buhari, Goodluck |
Nigeria, the most populous
nation in Africa will go to poll today
(Saturday) to elect
a new president in a crucial presidential election.
The
incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner from the oil rich Bayelsa
state will be slugging it out with his main rival, Gen Mohammadu Buhari,
a muslim from the North and a former military Head of State whose regime
was noted for discipline and anti-graft war.
Other
candidates, who are considered to be feather weights, are former anti-corruption
boss, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who is contesting on the platform of Action
Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Gov. of Kano state, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau
of the All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP).
President
Jonathan will be banking on votes from the South-East, oil rich South-South,
North central, South-west while Gen. Buhari will be hoping to get block votes
from the North.
Many
believe the election is crucial to Nigeria because the country has
never had
a free and fair election since the military handed over power to civilians in 1999,
though last week’s parliamentary election which has been hailed as being
free and fair despite pockets of crisis raises hope that Nigeria will
get it right
this time around.
African Examiner
No comments:
Post a Comment