After months of intense horse-trading among various power blocs within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, has been chosen as its presidential candidate for the upcoming 2023 elections.
In the lead-up to the primary elections, nine other candidates withdrew from the race and pledged their delegates to Tinubu.
Incumbent Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure ends in 2023.
To become president, Tinubu will have to defeat the People’s Democratic Party flag bearer Atiku Abubakar – his former business partner and another founding father of the APC – as well as Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party in the general elections scheduled for February 2023.
The next Nigerian president will need to grapple with persistent inflation, slow growth, and high unemployment as the country struggles to recover from its worse recession in four decades in 2020. Bandits and Islamic insurgents also continue to pose a deadly threat.
