Nigeria’s opposition divided, incumbent Tinubu eyes second term

Nigerian politician Peter Obi will run for president in the West African nation’s January elections, ensuring that the opposition to incumbent Bola Tinubu will once again be fragmented.Obi, second runner-up in the 2023 ballot narrowly won by Tinubu, was ratified late on Saturday as the candidate of the Nigeria-democratic-congress-party" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="137600" data-entity-type="organization">Nigeria Democratic Congress party. In his acceptance speech, he pledged to tackle insecurity, double health insurance coverage, and “invest heavily in schools, teachers, technology, and vocational training.”Obi will face Tinubu in the January 16 election as well as former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, who was the first runner-up in 2023 and with whom Obi had earlier planned to campaign as a unified coalition. Abubakar, 79, was picked on Thursday as flag-bearer for the African Democratic Congress, the country’s main opposition party, in what will be his seventh presidential run.