The candidate of the ruling party in Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, won the presidential election on Wednesday in the first round, according to official results announced by the National Electoral Commission (Inec).
He will succeed 80-year-old President Muhammadu Buhari, who watched over Nigeria’s destiny for two terms as required by the constitution of Africa’s most populous country. Morocco has become under his reign one of Nigeria’s main economic partners in Africa, notably with the agreement to build the Nigeria-Morocco-Europe gas pipeline among other major bilateral cooperation projects.
The new president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 70, a multimillionaire Muslim with the eternal traditional “Yoruba” hat, has therefore signed a rise to the top of power punctuated by a career in which he fought in the 1990s the ruling Junta of General Abacha, until exile from Nigeria. He will now have to work to ignite a Nigerian economy (the first in Africa) in lackluster despite the country’s wealth in hydrocarbons. Nigeria is the continent’s largest oil producer, not counting gas reserves.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu assured that his priorities as president would be security and economic recovery. For this recovery, he takes as an example and model, the Kingdom. We remember during the presidential campaign last June he had this line with regard to Morocco: “We can revive our economy. We can build a nation like Morocco. We can, and with the grace of God we will. ».
In any case for this ardent defender of democracy, the economy is an area that he seems to master the most. His profile gives him a glimpse of a roadmap tinged with optimism. He also managed to get Lagos, the economic heart of Nigeria, out of its lethargy when he was its mayor and governed for eight years (1999-2007). He is readily credited with the spectacular transformation of the megalopolis of 20 million inhabitants during his two terms of office, marked by the influx of foreign capital, major investments in the education and transport sectors (construction of new roads …). He also remodeled the commercial hub of Nigeria, Lagos.
He is also considered one of the richest men in the country if not the most, having in this, shares in many companies, from the media to aviation, through the hotel industry and real estate. An accountant by training, he obtained his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Chicago State University in 1979 before pursuing a career at Mobil Oil Nigeria and then in politics following his return from exile on the death of ‘Abacha.
Ahmed Tinubu ball cknown as “Jagaban” by his supporters, will now seek to unify a country that is folding along regional lines and religious blocs, as the election results show. Tinubu, is a Muslim from the south and he chose the former Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, a Muslim from the north, as vice president. The decision to choose the running mate had been controversial during the presidential campaign and had been seen as appeasing Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, which has the country’s largest electoral bloc.
Ahmed Tinubu ball after winning the elections, will have to tackle many problems inherited from his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari such as widespread insecurity, high unemployment, rising inflation and a country divided along ethnic lines. It’s not impossible, but the task ahead is daunting.
