Nigeria’s president and ruling party were on Saturday accused of dirty tricks to stifle opposition support, with one week to go before the election in Africa’s most populous nation. It blamed President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress and called the move “provocative” and a sign of “desperation”. Buhari, 76, wants a second, four-year term while Atiku Abubakar, 72, is hoping to finally secure the presidency after four previous attempts. In 2015, voting was delayed by six weeks because of military action against the Boko Haram jihadist group and the government has again warned of possible attempts to disrupt polling. Neither Buhari nor Abubakar has given categoric assurances either that they will concede defeat in the same manner as Jonathan did in 2015.

Source: Punch February 09, 2019 11:37 UTC