DUEL OF TWO SEPTUAGENARIES FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL IN NIGERIA

COLOSSE AT THE FOOT OF CLAY

The Nigerian presidential election scheduled for Saturday, February 16 was postponed to February 23 by the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC). The INEC has decided to postpone for a week the general elections (presidential and legislative) scheduled for Saturday, February 16, arguing of logistical problems after an emergency meeting in the night from Friday to Saturday. the holding of free, fair and credible elections, organizing the ballot as agreed was no longer possible, "told the press Mahmood Yakubu, president of the INEC.

The most populous country in Africa, the continent's largest oil producer, the main African economy in the neck and neck with South Africa, Nigeria remains a colossus with clay feet.

The challenges facing the winner of the presidential election on Saturday, February 23 will be gigantic. The election is expected to split the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, and the wealthy businessman Atiku Abubakar, leader of the opposition and former vice president (1999-2007) .72 other candidates are vying for the presidential election.

The duel of two septuagenarian Buhari (76 years), outgoing president, and the businessman Atiku Abubakar.

During the campaign, former General Buhari (76), who had led the country in the 1980s, did not deny the shortcomings of his mandate.

"It has not been a long, quiet river," he said, asking his compatriots to consider "the important progress" made by his government and to give him the opportunity to complete the projects, particularly in terms of anti-corruption, security and economic. Outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to take his country to a higher level and do better if he is re-elected.

"We are determined to deepen the work that we started during this first term so that the assets and resources of the nation continue to be organized and used in a way that serves the Nigerian citizen," said the outgoing president at the meeting. his campaign. But at 76, his health raised many questions while he was hospitalized several times in London.

The main competitor of President Buhari, who comes from the former ruling party, the PDP, disputes the record. The businessman Atiku Abubakar, who will thus seek for the fourth time the supreme magistracy in his last "Address to the Nation", has violently taken the current president, treating his presidency as "disaster". For him, President Buhari has failed in his policy of securing the country and its economic results are disappointing as its anti-corruption policy called "witch hunt against opponents."

It promises the recovery of the country's economy and an effective fight against corruption by favoring the return of funds diverted into public funds through an "amnesty".

Whoever wins this election, the challenges the winner will face are immense.

An economically poor country despite its hydrocarbon resources.

Indeed the economy of the most populous country in Africa is very badly in point. The crisis caused by the vertiginous drop in hydrocarbon prices in 2015, on which the Nigerian economy depends, has had a lasting impact on the country. Growth was only 1.9% in 2018, remaining at a lower rate than population growth in a country where unemployment affects a quarter of the labor force, and even more than half of 15-35 year olds .

In this country of some 190 million inhabitants - whose population is expected to double by 2050 - this sluggish growth, against a backdrop of high inflation, can not stop the spiral of extreme poverty. According to the World Bank, Nigeria is surpassing India to become the country with the largest number of people living on less than $ 1.90 a day. The recovery of the economy will inevitably go through a diversification of activities to stop this spiral of poverty ...

Security challenges with the threat of Boko Haram and land conflicts.

In addition to the economic challenge, security was a major theme of the February 23 presidential campaign. Determining Muhammadu Buhari's victory in 2015 as a former general who led a military regime with a military hand in the 1980s, security will still dominate the agenda of the next mandate, particularly with the rise of communal clashes. in addition to the ever-present terrorist threat of Boko Haram.

Muhammadu Buhari had indeed promised to stop the jihadist insurgency Boko Haram that has killed more than 20,000 and 2.6 million displaced since 2009.

But in the north-east of the country Boko Haram group remains a real threat to the security of the population, even if in four years, Boko Haram has given a little ground against the government of Buhari. The terrorist group has increased in 2018 attacks and suicide bombings in several cities in the north-east. In particular, the kidnapping, at the end of February, of more than a hundred girls in a boarding school in Dapchi (Yobe State) and the double bombing of May 1 that killed nearly a hundred victims in Mubi. In March2018, the Nigerian administration acquired US armament for 414 million euros, including surveillance planes and attack, to suppress the jihadists ...

In addition to Boko Haram, there are other conflicts in Nigeria that need to be addressed, such as pro-Biafra separatist tensions challenging the Abuja authority that still persist in the Southeast, and the old land dispute between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers.

There are many deadly clashes between farmers and pastoralists, particularly in the states of Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau and Kogi. Farmers are accused by farmers of ransacking their farms. But to this grievance is added a dimension of identity between the predominantly Muslim breeders and the mostly Christian farmers.

By 2018, Muslim herders reportedly massacred two priests and sixteen Catholic faithful in a church in the central Benue state. The following day, in retaliation, eleven Muslims were lynched in the capital of the state of Benue. The bishops of the states of Benue and Nassarawa had denounced, in a statement, "a clear program of Islamization of the Nigerian central belt" whose goal is "to hit Christians".

In the first economy of Africa the challenges to be met by the new head of state will be immense like the presidential election postponed because of security and logistical problems.

All eyes are now on President APC's Buhari and his main opponent, Atiku Abubakar, of the PDP, the ballot between the two northern men, Muslims, looking very tight.