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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jason Burke in Lagos

‘Godfather of Lagos’ is the man to beat in pivotal Nigerian election

Bola Ahmed Tinubu in campaign bus
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, second from right, leads the grand finale of his campaign at the Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos. Photograph: Adekunle Ajayi/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

The posters lining the roads of Lagos show the face of a smiling, bespectacled 70-year-old above a slogan promising renewed hope. Vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, pedestrians and drivers negotiating the chaos of the Nigerian commercial capital are told. Vote for peace, justice, unity.

On Saturday, the 6 million inhabitants of Lagos who have collected their voting cards will have to decide whether Tinubu and his ruling All Progressives Congress might fulfil any of these promises. So too will another estimated 81 million voters among the 220 million inhabitants of Africa’s most populous country. Their collective decision will determine the result of Nigeria’s seventh presidential elections since the end of military rule in 1999.

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