By Tim Cocks
LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian governing party presidential candidate Bola Tinubu promised to renew the hope of those losing faith in the country if elected in Saturday’s poll, as Africa’s biggest democracy faces rampant insecurity and a worsening economic crisis.
Tinubu, seen as the favourite to win what could be the closest poll to date, was speaking at a final rally for his All Progressives Congress (APC) at a two-thirds empty stadium in Lagos, the commercial hub, of which he used to be the governor.
Dancing to traditional drums and wearing clothes with his face on, many of Tinubu’s supporters touted his success in turning around the city when he and then a hand-picked successor ran it between 1999 and 2015.
He was flanked by President Muhammadu Buhari, whose presidency has largely been marked by a near-nationwide security crisis, in which a proliferation of armed groups has spread chaos right across the country.
“Mr President … I assure you … I will work hard for Nigeria,” Tinubu said. “I will sustain hope. Those who (feel) helpless today will be hopeful in this country.”
Tinubu’s main rivals are Atiku Abubakar, from the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi, who defected from the PDP to the Labour Party.
Tinubu is widely credited with cleaning up Lagos, then one of the world’s least liveable cities, including by bringing a measure of order to its dreadful traffic, picking up mountains of trash, tackling organised crime and planting hedges.
“He can do for Nigeria what he did for Lagos,” supporter Shyi Ogunsanwo, 40, a market trader in one of Lagos’s biggest markets, said. “He can fix the country.”
But Tinubu has been accused of “godfathering” other politicians, pulling strings behind the scenes in a way that is detrimental to democracy.
And being in his 70s and tied to an establishment party — as is Abubakar — could cost Tinubu the vote of many younger Nigerians, who are fed up with the old politicians and their failures to tackle joblessness and corruption. They have aligned themselves with 61-year-old Peter Obi.
(Reporting by Tim Cocks; Editing by Sandra Maler)
