- Tinubu and Abubakar have both been accused of corruption
- Issue is unlikely to feature on campaign trail, analysts say
The fight against corruption has been a top campaign issue in Nigeria’s last two presidential elections, but the history of graft allegations surrounding the two main candidates means neither is likely to raise it in the run-up to February’s vote.
Front-runner Bola Tinubu was being investigated by anti-corruption agency as recently as last June. Three decades ago he fought a lawsuit in which the US accused him of laundering proceeds of heroin trafficking and eventually reached a settlement.
Tinubu, 70, who lives in Lagos’s wealthiest neighborhood, says he made his fortune before going into politics by investing well and working as an accountant.
Atiku Abubakar, Tinubu’s chief rival, brought tens of millions of dollars of “suspect funds” into the US when he was Nigeria’s vice president in the 2000s, according to a US Senate report.
Abubakar, 75, who splits his time between Nigeria and Dubai, spent two decades working for the government’s customs department and co-founded a large logistics and oil services firm that has operated concessions at Nigerian ports.
The race will see the two wealthy septuagenarians mobilize impressive political machines built over more than 30 years pursuing power in Africa’s most-populous country.
The next president faces a daunting challenge to turn around Africa’s largest economy as falling oil production threatens Nigeria’s place as the continent’s biggest crude producer.
Inflation is soaring and more than half of the working-age population are either unemployed or underemployed. The local currency has depreciated steeply under outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari.
Surging prices are likely to be a campaign issue in Africa’s biggest democracy ahead of presidential elections in February. A sharp rise in the prices of beans and peanut oil is making Nigeria’s favorite breakfast snack unaffordable for the country’s poor.
Nigeria also confronts rampant unemployment and sluggish growth. Both major party candidates have promised to fix the dire economic situation.
(Bloomberg)
