Buhari re-elected as Nigeria president for second term
27th February 2019
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been re-elected for a second four-year term, final results from Saturday’s general election show.
The 76-year-old defeated his main rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, with a margin of just under four million votes.
Mr Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party has rejected the result.
Delays and violence marred the run-up to the poll but no independent observer has cited electoral fraud.
Turnout was just below 35% of registered voters, according to the Nigerian electoral commission (Inec).
The commission will make a formal declaration on Wednesday.
A former soldier, Mr Buhari led a military regime in the 1980s, and
was first elected president in 2015. He will face a range of problems
including power shortages, corruption, security threats, and an economic
slowdown.
The president has quelled a militant Islamist rebellion in Nigeria’s
north-east, but Boko Haram remains active. There has also been an
upsurge in violence in the Middle Belt as traditional herders and more
settled farmers have clashed.