Irish Examiner view: Poll troubles for African giant 

Nigeria elections

Party agents and observers look on as electoral officials count ballots in Yola, Nigeria, during the presidential election, following the final term of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari. Picture: Sunday Alamba/AP

Oil-rich Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy and dominant country. Its population is projected to reach 400m, bigger than America’s, within three decades.

This weekend’s presidential election, the seventh since military rule ended in 1999, was clamorous and disrupted by gangs snatching ballot boxes and shots fired in the sprawling and influential mega-city of Lagos, while in the northeast Islamists opened fire on officials.

To add to the chaos, the central bank withdrew and replaced every naira banknote in the country to prevent corruption and a rigged result. With 87m voters, the candidates were two political veterans and an outsider, Peter Obi, popular with the young.

The favourite before polling was the 70-year-old Bola Ahmed Tinubu, known as the Godfather. 

The outcome from Africa’s biggest exercise in democracy may take days to determine, but the challenges will be familiar to Western leaders: High inflation and a sluggish economy.