Nigeria’s Presidential Election Is This Saturday. Here’s Who’s Running And What’s At Stake
By Char DastonNigeria’s Presidential Election Is This Saturday. Here’s Who’s Running And What’s At Stake
By Char DastonNigerians head to the polls on Saturday to cast their vote for president. Of the almost twenty candidates on the ballot, the two frontrunners have both held office before. Incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress took office in 2015, and also served as head of state in the 80s before democracy was restored in Nigeria. His main opponent, Atiku Abubakar of the centrist People’s Democratic Party, is a former vice president. Major issues on the minds of voters include Nigeria’s 23 percent unemployment rate, attacks by Boko Haram and other extremist groups and corruption (President Buhari recently suspended Nigeria’s Chief Justice on corruption charges, a move the UN has criticized as presidential overreach). To talk about what to expect on Saturday, we’re joined by Clement Adibe, professor of political science at DePaul University.