Nigeria elections
Nigeria's president under pressure as insecurity spirals
Presidential elections are due to take place next February for a successor to Buhari. The former army general, first elected in 2015 and reelected in 2019, is...
When Nigeria's opposition named veteran operator Atiku Abubakar as its 2023 election candidate, ruling APC party chief Bola Tinubu quickly welcomed a chance to compete against a "worthy" opponent.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who is to step down next year after serving two four-year terms, signed the amended election bill on Friday, more than seven months after it was passed by the Senate.
Ballots in Nigeria have, at times, been marred by electoral fraud claims and court challenges since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.
Elections in Nigeria have often been marred by fraud claims and court challenges since the country returned to civilian rule in 1999.
Millions more will vote across the region - in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Nigeria - before the year is out, under the wary eye of defenders of democracy.
The two states, southern oil-rich Bayelsa and central Kogi, are among seven states where gubernatorial elections are held at different times from the general election due to court rulings.
The INEC said over 31,000 police had been deployed, as well as 87 gunboats, to prevent, or deal with, any electoral violence.
The main opposition party took nine other states, mostly in the oil heartlands of the Niger Delta in the south and the staunchly anti-Buhari southeast.
The EU commented after elections last Saturday for governors in 29 of 36 states, and two weeks after a presidential vote in which Muhammadu Buhari won a second term at the helm of Africa’s top oil producer and biggest economy.
While voting was largely peaceful, incidents of violence marred the poll, with reports of abductions and killings as well as concerns over vote buying.
Voting was mostly peaceful but there were reports of abductions, violence and vote buying, as well as at least 10 deaths before and on polling day.
Elections for governors are being held in 29 of Nigeria's 36 states, for all state assemblies, plus the administrative councils in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.
Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party filed a motion to compel the electoral commission to allow the inspection.
Nigeria has a history of election violence and malpractice, including ballot-snatching, voter intimidation, and vote-buying.
Buhari won in 19 states - including the two most populous, Lagos and Kano - while Abubakar was victorious in 17 states and the FCT.
Saturday’s election, which US observers said had lost some credibility after being abruptly delayed by a week by officials citing organisational glitches, was expected to be Nigeria’s tightest since the end of military rule two decades ago.
Nigeria’s electoral commission insists it is the only authority empowered to officially announcing results of the parliamentary and presidential elections.
The INEC announced a week’s delay to voting on Saturday, just as some of Nigeria’s 72.8 million eligible voters were preparing to go to polling stations.