Voters in Africa's biggest economy and most populous nation head to the polls today to elect a new president and lawmakers, in what is set to be a close contest amid rising frustration over cash and fuel shortages, unprecedented insecurity and surging inflation.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who will complete his constitutionally allowed two terms in May, is not on the ballot. Voters will also choose new senators and members for the House of Representatives. Governorship races follow on March 11.
Here is what you need to know about the election.
** WHO IS RUNNING?
A total of 18 candidates are vying for the presidency. But the main contest is between Labour Party's Peter Obi, who is leading in some polls after galvanising young voters, and veteran candidates Bola Tinubu from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP).
A lack of reliable polling makes it difficult to predict the winner, but a close race is expected even though the ruling party has a major advantage as it is able to use the state apparatus to mobilise support.
Tinubu and Atiku have significant powerbases across Nigeria, while Obi is banking on frustration over the economy and insecurity to turn voters against the two major parties.
** WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES?
Africa's top oil producer is a key Western ally in the fight against Islamist insurgents in west Africa.
The top issue for many Nigerian voters is spreading insecurity, from kidnappings for ransom in the northwest to a 13-year Islamist insurgency in the northeast, separatist violence in the southeast and decades-old ethnic tensions mostly between herders and farmers in the northcentral region.
Double-digit inflation is at its highest in nearly two decades, and a shortage of cash has angered Nigerians who say life is harder than when Buhari took office in 2015.
The naira currency plunged to record lows as unprecedented oil theft knocked crude exports last year, and endemic corruption remains a scourge.
As the economy suffers, hundreds of Nigerians are leaving the country in a punishing brain drain that is stretching a weak healthcare system and disrupting services from banking to tech.
** WHAT DO THE PARTIES OFFER?
There are no clear ideological differences between the two major parties. Competition for dwindling oil revenues, patronage and ethnic rivalries typically play a bigger role in Nigeria's elections than ideology.
Obi, who left the PDP last year and was Atiku's running mate in 2019, casts himself as a reformist willing to overhaul Nigeria's political system. But on policy, there is little separating the main candidates. Tinubu, Atiku and Obi have all made reviving the economy and ending insecurity top priorities, promising better pay for security forces and more military equipment to defeat insurgents.
Their manifestos say they would scrap a fuel subsidy that cost $10 billion last year but differ on how quickly they would do it. They also promise to reform the forex market and invest more in education.
** HOW WILL THE ELECTION WORK?
Some 93.4 million people have registered to vote, of whom three-quarters are between the ages of 18 and 49.
The challenge for the parties, however, will be getting out the vote. Many younger Nigerians do not relate to the two major-party candidates, who are both septuagenarian political veterans. In 2019, voter turnout was 35%, electoral commission figures showed.
Nigeria has a long history of electoral fraud.
This year, however, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is using a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to identify voters through fingerprints and facial recognition, hoping this will curb rigging.
On voting day, results will be pasted outside polling stations and sent through BVAS to an INEC portal in Abuja. They will be displayed on the portal in real time and the public can view them.
Official results are expected within five days. The candidate with the most votes will be declared the winner if they have at least one-quarter of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states and the capital. Otherwise there will be a run-off between the two top candidates within 21 days.
** Nigerian soldiers patrol ahead of election, land borders shut
Nigerian authorities started moving sensitive voting materials under armed guard to polling units across the country while soldiers patrolled potential hot spot states and land borders were shut ahead of today’s national election.
"Internal movements have been restricted to the polling units. There will also be no movement of persons across national borders," the ministry of interior said in a statement.
Security agencies earlier announced restrictions on the movement of vehicles from 12 a.m. (2300 GMT on Friday) to 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Saturday, calling it a measure to ensure security.
Widespread insecurity is a major concern for voters who will elect new lawmakers and a president to succeed Muhammadu Buhari, who is not allowed to contest again after serving eight years.
In the northern Kano state, commercial capital Lagos and the southeastern Anambra state, which is in the grips of separatist and gang violence, soldiers were on the streets less than 24 hours before polls open.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials in Awka, the capital of Anambra state, were moving ballot papers, voting machines and petrol generators to polling stations under military guard.
"What you are seeing being moved today is the sensitive material," said Queen-Elizabeth Ugwu, the resident INEC commissioner in Anambra.
Saturday's election comes against a chaotic backdrop of armed conflict in the northeast, high levels of crime and shortages of cash, fuel and electricity.
** NERVES
Uncertain of the outcome of the election, Nigerians stocked up on food and essentials. Voting has sometimes been followed by violence in Africa's most populous nation.
INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu said preparations were going smoothly but the agency had suspended voting in a senatorial district in Enugu, another southeastern state where an opposition Labour Party candidate was killed.
The candidate for Enugu East district and the driver of a campaign minibus belonging to another party were killed in coordinated attacks in Enugu State in the southeast.
Yakubu said voting for that seat would now be held on March 11, when Nigerians elect the country's state governors.
"Materials already delivered for the senatorial election will remain in the custody of the central bank in the state until the new date for the election," Yakubu told a news conference.
Flanked by the head of the police, Yakubu said INEC was on guard against possible attacks on its electronic system. Results from polling stations will be transmitted electronically using new voting machines.
** Ahead of elections, residents stock up on food, essentials
At a market in Nigeria's northern Kano state customers stocked up on Friday on food and essentials, uncertain of the outcome of Saturday's election to choose a new president and lawmakers, in a country where voting has sometimes been followed by violence.
Shortages of cash and fuel and the highest inflation rate in nearly two decades have left Nigerians frustrated about the government.
"We don't know what is going to be the outcome of the election so that is why you see everyone trying to come and buy some items," said potato seller Auwal Usman Ahmed as he sorted his wares at Yan Kaba Market in the city of Kano, capital of the state of the same name.
In past elections, violence has flared in Kano, a largely Muslim state, after results were announced.
Businesses and markets traditionally close on voting day in Nigeria and the country's security agencies have announced restrictions on the movement of vehicles from 12 a.m. (2300 GMT on Friday) to 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Saturday, calling it a measure to ensure security.
Esther David, a government employee in Kano, said she had stocked up, but was confident her prayers would prevent an outburst of violence.
Widespread insecurity is a major concern for voters, although the army and police have promised a peaceful election.
In the southeastern Anambra state, where separatist and gang violence has killed dozens of people this year, nurse Norah Ejike said she was worried about post-election violence.
Ejike, 22, was among last-minute shoppers before markets closed in Anambra's capital Awka but was unable to buy what she wanted. Although she had money in her bank account and a bank card, sellers at the market demanded payment in cash, which is in short supply after the central bank withdrew old naira bills from circulation.
"The best chance is to shop now," she said. "We just place it in God's hands although we know that there is definitely going to be killing."
Reuters
