
<p>By MacDonald Dzirutwe and Abraham Achirga</p>



<p>ABUJA, May 28 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nigeria&#8217;s former vice president, veteran politician Atiku Abubakar, will run for president again next year after the main opposition party picked him as its candidate to stand in elections to succeed incumbent Muhammadu Buhari.</p>



<p>Abubakar, 75, lost to Buhari during the last election in 2019, which he claimed was rigged. But Buhari will not be on the ballot next year when the second of his two four-year terms comes to an end.</p>



<p>The People&#8217;s Democratic Party (PDP) party, which ruled Nigeria after military rule ended in 1999, was ousted from power by Buhari&#8217;s All Progressives Congress (APC) party in 2015. The PDP is vying for a return to governing Africa&#8217;s biggest economy.</p>



<p>Vote counting started late on Saturday and Abubakar garnered 371 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, governor of oil-producing Rivers state, who received 237 votes.</p>



<p>In his acceptance speech, Abubakar reiterated his campaign promise to end insecurity in the country and revive its fragile economy, among other pledges, and promised to work with his opponents.</p>



<p>&#8220;I therefore pledge that I will restore unity. I also committed that I was going to deal decisively with the security situation in this country,&#8221; said Abubakar.</p>



<p>Abubakar has stood in six primaries, and next year&#8217;s vote will be his third presidential bid.</p>



<p>From 1999 to 2007, he was vice president to Olusegun Obasanjo, the first Nigerian leader after the end of decades of military rule.</p>



<p>Abubakar&#8217;s main opponent will be from the ruling APC party, which will choose its candidate at a special convention to be held from June 6-8. The APC postponed its presidential primary from Sunday after the electoral commission extended the deadline for political parties to choose their candidates.</p>



<p>Twenty-five candidates from the APC have registered to take part in the primaries. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and former Lagos state Governor and party heavyweight Bola Tinubu are seen as the ruling party&#8217;s front-runners.</p>



<p>Buhari&#8217;s successor faces several challenges, from insecurity marked by kidnappings for ransom in the northwest, an Islamist insurgency in the northeast, secessionist violence in the southeast, and a struggling economy and high inflation.</p>



<p>(Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Sandra Maler and Jonathan Oatis)</p>


Nigeria’s opposition picks Abubakar to run for president again￼

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<p>On the day of the Lagos governorship elections, CNBC Africa caught up with Lagos state Governor-Elect, Babajide Sanwo-Olu at his polling unit and here is what he had to say.</p>


Lagos governor-elect Babajide Sanwo-Olu speaks on elections

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<p>CNBC Africa spoke to Olujimi Agbaje, the candidate of the main opposition party, the People&#8217;s Democratic Party about the Lagos governorship elections.</p>


PDP’s Olujimi Agbaje talks on Lagos governorship elections

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<p>CNBC Africa speaks to Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary, INEC from the venue of the National Collation Centre in Abuja for an update on Nigeria’s election results.</p>


Nigerian election results trickle in

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<p>CNBC Africa’s Christy Cole spoke Festus Okoye, National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission at the opening of the election result collation centre in Abuja.</p>


Nigeria’s collation centre begins operations

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<p>International observer former Vice-President of The Gambia Fatoumata Tambajang shares her views on the Nigerian elections.</p>


#NigeriaDecides: Former VP of The Gambia Tambajang shares her views on the elections

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<p>Mary Dinah, CEO of Joblink Recruitment Services expresses her frustrations in Ikoyi, Nigeria over voter delays.</p>


Disgruntled voter in Ikoyi, Nigeria shares her frustrations as voting delayed

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<p>Nigeria Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Nigeria Ibe Kachikwu says voting was orderly and peaceful when he cast his vote today. He joins CNBC Africa for an update.</p>


Nigeria Minister Ibe Kachikwu votes, speaks on elections

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<p>Interest in Nigeria’s elections stretch from Kano in the north to Cape Town in the south; Statistics South Africa estimates that over 300 000 Nigerians live in SA. Many of them are watching today’s elections hoping for change. CNBC Africa’s Lubabalo Mashiqana reports from Kempton Park in the south of Johannesburg.</p>


The voice of Nigeria far from home

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<p>As Nigeria heads to the polls CNBC Africa spoke to Former Presidential Candidate, Kowa Party, Remi Sonaiya, for an update of her experience when she cast her vote.</p>


Voting going smoothly says Former Presidential Candidate Remi Sonaiya

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<p>CNBC Africa went on to the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa to speak with the Nigerian in diaspora about the on-going presidential voting, after a week-long delay.</p>


Nigerians in diaspora speak out on presidential elections

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<p>Nigerians finally head to the polls for the keenly contested presidential and national assembly elections. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Christy Cole takes a look at the fall out of an initially postponed election and weighs expectations ahead of today&#8217;s outing.</p>


Nigerians finally head to the polls

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<p>While addressing the national caucus meeting of the All Progressives Congress in Abuja on Monday, Nigeria&#8217;s president, Muhammadu Buhari said ballot box snatchers will pay with their lives as he has instructed the military and police to be ruthless with election offenders.</p>


Nigerian president talks tough on election offenders

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<p>Nigeria&#8217;s ruling All Progressives Congress has held its gubernatorial and national assembly primaries in most part of the country with some party members dissatisfied with the process. The main opposition, People&#8217;s Democratic Party is not without its own internal challenges. Ahead of the APC&#8217;s October 6 National Convention, Chude Achike, Political Affairs Commentator joins CNBC Africa for an assessment of Nigeria&#8217;s political space.</p>


Road to Nigeria’s 2019 elections: Assessing the political landscape

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<p>Ahead of the All Progressives Congress governorship primaries in Lagos State, Dele Ashiru, Senior Lecturer at the department of the political science from the University of Lagos joins CNBC Africa to discuss possible outcomes from the process.</p>


All eyes on Lagos State primaries

<p>The national executive committee of Nigeria’s ruling party has passed a vote of confidence in its leaders including President Muhammadu Buhari, it said on Wednesday.</p>
<p><div id="attachment_87333" style="width: 1552px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-87333" class="wp-image-87333 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/osinbajo___buhari_-_wikimedia.jpg" alt="" width="1542" height="1024" /><p id="caption-attachment-87333" class="wp-caption-text">Photo: Wikimedia.</p></div></p>
<p class="">The committee, whose decisions determine the direction of the president’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party, held a one-day meeting which concluded late on Tuesday.</p>
<p class="">In an emailed statement it said the body had approved a one-year extension for party executives, including Buhari.</p>
<p class="">“By this decision, all affected officers will continue in acting capacity for another period of 12 months after the expiration of their current term,” it said in the statement.</p>
<p class="">Nigeria’s parties must select their candidates for the 2019 presidential election between Aug. 18 and Oct. 7 this year. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on Feb. 16, 2019.</p>
<p class="">Two senior party sources told Reuters on Wednesday that the national executive committee had endorsed Buhari to seek a second term in next year’s election. Buhari, 75, has not said whether he intends to seek re-election.</p>
<p class="">“The party made it clear that this endorsement is not an automatic ticket for the president,” one of the sources said, adding that the party would still conduct a presidential primary to be fair to other potential candidates.</p>
<p class="">The national executive committee is made up of party grandees, including many state governors who have already publicly stated their support for any bid by Buhari to seek re-election.</p>
<p class="">But a presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said the election had not been discussed.</p>
<p class="">“A vote of confidence was passed on the president and the national chairman. Nothing about the presidential election was discussed,” said Adesina.</p>
<div></div>
<p class="">Buhari won power in May 2015 but spent five months on medical leave in Britain last year for an unspecified ailment, raising questions over whether he was well enough to stand again.</p>
<p class="">Adebayo Shittu, Nigeria’s minister of communications who played a prominent role in Buhari’s 2015 campaign, said in January he would chair a group to support the re-election of Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.</p>
<p class="">Campaigning for the re-election of a president in Nigeria has often started with such support groups before the incumbent declares his intention to run again.</p>
<div class="Attribution_container_28wm1">
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw">Additional reporting by Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg</p>
</div>
</div>


Nigeria’s ruling party passes vote of confidence in Buhari

<p data-reactid="32">Nigeria’s Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and key ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, said on Sunday he had joined the country’s opposition party after quitting the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) last month.</p>
<p data-reactid="32"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-292326 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Nigeria_Atiku-Abubakar_Flickr.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="707" /></p>
<p data-reactid="40">Abubakar is the first political heavyweight to signal a potential bid for the presidency, which could pit him against the 74-year-old Buhari. Buhari took power in 2015, but illness has kept him absent for much of this year.</p>
<p data-reactid="41">Abubakar is prepared to run for president in 2019, a spokesman said last month when he left the APC. He did not indicate on Sunday whether he would try to become the opposition People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP‘s) presidential candidate.</p>
<p data-reactid="42">Abubakar rejoined the PDP after four years because it has resolved its issues, he said, according to a statement on Sunday. He had left the PDP because he “believed it was no longer aligned to the principles of equity, democracy and social justice,” he said.</p>
<p data-reactid="43">In Sunday’s statement, Abubakar criticized the APC for letting down the Nigerian people by failing to create a strong economy and jobs, especially for the young, with one quarter of 18-25 year olds unemployed.</p>
<div data-reactid="44"></div>
<div class="Attribution_attribution_o4ojT" data-reactid="45">
<p class="Attribution_content_27_rw" data-reactid="46">Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Larry King</p>
</div>


All Progressives Congress

Nigeria’s opposition picks Abubakar to run for president again

Lagos governor-elect Babajide Sanwo-Olu speaks on elections

PDP’s Olujimi Agbaje talks on Lagos governorship elections

Nigerian election results trickle in

Nigeria’s collation centre begins operations

#NigeriaDecides: Former VP of The Gambia Tambajang shares her views on the elections

Disgruntled voter in Ikoyi, Nigeria shares her frustrations as voting delayed

Nigeria Minister Ibe Kachikwu votes, speaks on elections

The voice of Nigeria far from home

Voting going smoothly says Former Presidential Candidate Remi Sonaiya

Nigerians in diaspora speak out on presidential elections

Nigerians finally head to the polls

Nigerian president talks tough on election offenders

Road to Nigeria’s 2019 elections: Assessing the political landscape

All eyes on Lagos State primaries

Nigeria’s ruling party passes vote of confidence in Buhari

Former key ally of Nigeria’s Buhari joins opposition party

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All Progressives Congress

Nigeria’s opposition picks Abubakar to run for president again￼

Lagos governor-elect Babajide Sanwo-Olu speaks on elections

PDP’s Olujimi Agbaje talks on Lagos governorship elections

Nigerian election results trickle in

Nigeria’s collation centre begins operations

#NigeriaDecides: Former VP of The Gambia Tambajang shares her views on the elections

Disgruntled voter in Ikoyi, Nigeria shares her frustrations as voting delayed

Nigeria Minister Ibe Kachikwu votes, speaks on elections

The voice of Nigeria far from home

Voting going smoothly says Former Presidential Candidate Remi Sonaiya

Nigerians in diaspora speak out on presidential elections

Nigerians finally head to the polls

Nigerian president talks tough on election offenders

Road to Nigeria’s 2019 elections: Assessing the political landscape

All eyes on Lagos State primaries

Nigeria’s ruling party passes vote of confidence in Buhari

Former key ally of Nigeria’s Buhari joins opposition party

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Nigeria’s opposition picks Abubakar to run for president again