By Ruth Maclean and Elian Peltier

LAGOS – Bola Tinubu, the governing party candidate and a perennial political kingmaker who campaigned on the slogan ‘It’s my turn’, was named by election officials as the winner of the presidential contest in Nigeria early Wednesday (March 1) morning.

But the election was marred by delays and incidents of violence at polling stations, and on Tuesday (Feb 28) the political parties representing Tinubu’s two major rivals said the election had been rigged, and called for it to be cancelled and done over.

“We demand that this sham of an election be immediately cancelled,” said Julius Abure, chair of the opposition Labour Party. “We have totally lost faith in the whole process.”

The election, held over the weekend, was the most closely contested in years in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, with 220 million people. The country has spent the past eight years stalled and struggling with crises under President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator.

Tinubu faced a tough contest against two chief opponents: Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and multimillionaire businessperson who, at 76, has run for the presidency five times before; and Peter Obi, a former state governor who surprised the country by running with the little-known Labour Party and galvanized young Nigerians.

Obi pulled off an unexpected victory in Lagos state, home to the country’s largest city and traditionally a stronghold of Tinubu, who was its governor for eight years. But Obi, who was the front-runner in many polls before the election, failed to deliver on the promise of his enthusiastic, youthful followers, nicknamed ‘Obidients’.

Some 87 million people were registered to vote, but the results indicated that in many places the turnout was low.

Voters shared stories of showing up at polling stations that opened hours late, or of being intimidated by armed assailants. Many aimed their ire at the government’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which introduced new accreditation technology this year to ensure the integrity of the vote. But the technology failed in some places, voters testified.

“Everybody was expecting a free and fair election,” said Daniel Offor, a 21-year-old fashion stylist in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, who said he had voted for Obi.

“But it’s obviously been rigged. What happened last time is happening again,” Offor said, referring to previous elections tainted by allegations of vote rigging.

The election commission said in a statement Monday (Feb 27) that it took “full responsibility” for the logistical problems and delays.

Independent election observers raised concerns about whether the election was free and fair, although they stopped short of accusing the governing party and the election commission of rigging it. A mission of European Union observers pointed to a lack of transparency and to operational failures. African Union observers noted “isolated incidents of violence”.

Life under Buhari’s government had become increasingly difficult for Nigerians. Security problems, including kidnappings of commuters and schoolchildren for ransom, have multiplied nationwide. The economy has struggled, because of external hits including the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, along with internal decisions such as the closing of the country’s land borders for over two years in an effort to stop smuggling.

Just before the election, the rollout of a new design for currency led to severe cash shortages, causing widespread suffering. Even those with money in the bank could not withdraw the new bank notes, and many struggled to pay for essentials.

When he takes office in May, Tinubu will also need to work on solving Nigeria’s endemic electricity shortages and reviving its sputtering production of oil, the country’s main export.

Resolving the country’s many security issues will be another priority. The Islamic militant groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province continue to terrorize citizens in the northeast.

And with murky armed groups known as ‘bandits’ operating in the northwest, separatists in the southeast, and kidnappers targeting victims across the country and across social classes, daily life has become unsafe for many Nigerians.

Tinubu is a divisive figure. He is revered by some as a political wizard and the man who turned around the fortunes of Lagos, Nigeria’s labyrinthine megacity. His supporters are hoping he can repeat that performance on a national level.

Others deride Tinubu, the candidate of the governing All Progressives Congress party, as “corruption personified,” and accuse him of looting state coffers as the governor of Lagos.

And many simply worry that Tinubu is a potential embarrassment to Nigeria, sometimes sounding incoherent and appearing unwell. He says he is 70, but his real age is a matter of dispute.

This is a real concern in Nigeria, where several leaders have died in office, and where the current president, Buhari, spent a large chunk of his first term absent, receiving medical treatment in London, for an illness he refused to discuss.

Tinubu ran Lagos as governor for eight years, and then mentored his successors, giving him a reputation as a political ‘godfather’, able to ensure that some people’s careers took off while others’ sank.

He has also claimed that without his influence, Buhari, who lost presidential elections several times before winning his first term in 2015, would never have become president.

In the run-up to this election, Tinubu used the slogan, ‘It’s my turn’ — flaunting his role as kingmaker, but also alienating many voters.

A Muslim from Nigeria’s southwest, Tinubu may struggle to unite Nigeria’s diverse population. He ran for president with another Muslim on the ticket — Kashim Shettima, a former governor of Borno state in the northeast, which has been the epicentre of Boko Haram’s campaign of terrorism for over a decade.

Nigeria’s Christian population is almost as big as its Muslim one, and traditionally presidential candidates pick running mates of a different religion.

Tinubu has promised fiscal policy changes, and to fix the worsening security situation. An outbreak of kidnappings by armed gangs has affected people from all walks of life and parts of the country. In the northeast, militants with the extremist groups Boko Haram and a local affiliate of the Islamic State group have killed thousands and driven millions from their homes.

Before the election, voters cited insecurity as their main concern.

He has also pledged to improve Nigeria’s deteriorating infrastructure and to remove a crippling government fuel subsidy.

Tinubu has faced allegations of corruption and questions over the source of his wealth. The US government filed a complaint in 1993 accusing him of banking the proceeds from narcotics trafficking. The case was settled, and Tinubu has denied wrongdoing.

-New York Times