The election was still taking place a day after polls closed

What has happened in Nigeria? A “Japa” wave reshaping the country’s economic, social, and economic status as a result of the presidential election

The UN predicts that the population of Nigeria could be the third largest in the world by the year 2050, tying the United States. The future of the country will have a big impact on the world.

Almost half of young people are without a job, and two-thirds of the population live in poverty, as a result of the outgoing President’s government. The value of Nigeria’s currency, the naira, has plummeted due to inflation and low oil production.

Violent insecurity and terrorism, which existed in some parts of the country, have proliferated across swaths of it — reshaping everyday life in profound ways. There are continuous threats from terrorists and Islamist groups in the north and central regions of Nigeria, and from secessionist groups in the southeast. The number of kidnapping attacks around the country has soared, rising as the economy has worsened.

Bleak prospects for a young population with a median age of under 19 have spurred a “japa” wave — rising numbers seeking to leave the country in search of a better life.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/24/1158978511/nigeria-election

The Rise and Fall of Peter Atiku Abubakar — A Progressive Progressive Candidate with Two Founders and Three Women –

There are 18 candidates — with only one woman — but three of them matter most. Two older figures who have dominated politics for a generation and a slightly younger candidate who is threatening to pull off a big upset are the front-runners.

Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) party’s candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is currently in the lead with 39%, according to preliminary results with votes still being counted. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar is second and Peter Obi of the Labour Party is third.

Peter Obi is a wealthy businessman and former governor of southeastern Anambra state, who has attracted a great deal of support from younger voters. This has destabilized Nigerian politics and riled the political class. He emerged from the political establishment and has become known to many as an anti-Establishment candidate. His image as a humane, approachable figure, with relatively few allegations of corruption, has set him apart.

But to his detractors, he’s a corrupting figure, wielding outsize control over politics in Lagos and the southwest, and dogged by questions over his age, health and the source of his vast wealth. He reached a settlement after the US government accused him of being a heroin traffickers in 1992.

Yet he has also faced challenges. A presidential candidate in Nigeria usually alternates between northern and southern Nigeria, which has caused splits in his party. This time it was expected to be a southerner. He’s also faced multiple corruption allegations in the U.S. In 2010, Senate investigators alleged one of his four wives helped him transfer more than $40 million in “suspect funds” into the U.S. from offshore corporations. The money was said to have been paid in bribes by the company of which it was a part. Atiku has always denied any wrongdoing.

The election campaign has been lit up by a grassroots movement of Obi’s followers. Many young people, whose political awakening was the major “End SARS” protests in 2020 against police brutality, are backing him and voting for the first time. He is still an outsider to defeat two larger and wealthier political parties because of his lack of experience.

The election is one of the most hotly contested contests since the end of military dictatorship in 1999, and the two-party system that has dominated Nigerian politics since then is facing an unprecedented threat.

It’s possible, so don’t rule out a late postponement. Both of the last two elections were postponed. It was announced just before polls opened in the country in the year, with officials citing the security problem. The south has seen an increase in attacks on the police and election equipment, which appears to be a bigger challenge than before.

There were people waiting to cast their ballot when the CNN team was at a polling unit. Voting went on into the night in parts of Lagos.

NPR watched masked attackers open a polling station and take a ballot box. It was not completely clear who the assailants were, but many people at the station told NPR they were voting for Peter Obi, and some voters said they felt intimidated by unknown figures around the unit.

The Chaotic Nigerian Presidential Elections: “Were disappointed with the results that weren’t uploaded to I NEC,” ADC, PDP and ADC

Alicia Gberikon said: “There was harassment and if you had a phone that was a crime. People had their phones smashed. It was very scary.”

Yiaga Africa, a non-profit civic group that deployed 3,836 observers across the country said it was disappointed with the elections. The way the process has been conducted has created a sense of disappointment. Clearly, we’ve not overcome and resolved, perennially our logistical challenges with elections,” Samson Itodo, Yiaga’s Executive Director told CNN.

When results were known from the thousands of polling units on Saturday, they hadn’t been uploaded to the electoral commission’s voting portal.

“It raises a lot of questions about the entire process because it deviates from the guidelines for the elections. It also casts doubt on the integrity of the entire process.

At a media briefings on Sunday, the chairman of the electoral commission talked about the process but did not discuss the issues of results transmission.

The electoral machines known as Bimodal Voter accredited system (BVAS) were lost in some of the violence and it was not the only one.

The main Nigerian opposition parties are demanding a rerun of the country’s presidential election because it was marred by violence and rigging.

Election monitors from the European Union said in a statement, a “lack of transparency and operational failures reduced trust in the process and challenged the right to vote.”

The race in Africa’s most populous country was one of the hardest to predict and most tightly fought in years, with three prominent candidates. It is a vital moment for the country, after eight bleak years in which the economy has suffered and security has deteriorated.

At a news conference in the capital Abuja on Tuesday, representatives from the PDP, Labour and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) were scathing about the election.

The parties don’t have faith in the electoral process or INEC, and called for its removal.

Julius Abure, chairman of the Labour Party, said the process was irretrievably compromised and that they lost faith in the entire process. “We demand that this sham of an election should be immediately canceled and new elections should be announced.”

Africa Check said some of the results uploaded to I NEC were backed up by wrong evidence from different polling units.

On Tuesday, INEC chair Mahmood Yakubu said, “Let me seize this opportunity to assure Nigerians that we’ll do whatever we can within the law to review issues arising about the conduct of elections. To review places where review is absolutely necessary.

INEC: An Update of the First Preliminary Elections Results and a Campaign to Fix the Contagion in the Lands of Nigeria

It was hailed as an improved method to verify voters in the first presidential polls to use the Bimodal Voter accreditation System, and a faster way for electoral officials to post the results. INEC had promised to upload votes directly from each polling unit to its website and that it would boost the credibility of the results.

On Sunday, INEC said it regretted “technical hitches” it blamed for the slow pace of results uploaded to its viewing portal and said it was not due to any “intrusion or sabotage.”

There were many incidents of violence, ballot box snatching, voter intimidation, and thus the vote was affected in many areas.

After about 75% of results were announced by INEC, Obi is currently trailing with 23% of the vote. Major victories were registered in several states by the Labour candidate, including Lagos, which had been a stronghold of Tinubu, a former two-term governor.

The winner could be announced a few days after the vote count is over. The results are likely to be challenged in court because of the disputes.