Nigeria’s new President will be sworn in Friday, marking the first peaceful transfer of power between rival parties in the nation.
Retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who won the election in March, will be inaugurated in the capital of Abuja.
When he takes over from Goodluck Jonathan, he’ll have to tackle a stubborn militant insurgency and lingering fuel shortages despite Nigeria being a leading oil producer.
Buhari has ruled Nigeria before and was among military strongmen who dominated the country between the 1960s and the 1990s.
A military coup brought him to power in 1983 — and another military coup toppled him two years later. The nation’s history is riddled with coups and military rules. Umaru Yar’Adua, the last President before Jonathan, died in office.
At the time, his regime was known for its “war on indiscipline,” which critics say was marred by human rights abuses.
Before the election, African affairs analyst Ayo Johnson said Buhari’s military background may be what voters need to feel safe from the deadly Boko Haram militant group.
“Many Nigerians will not forget he was a military leader, during a dictatorship,” Johnson said. “Or maybe they will feel that they need a military leader to address fundamental problems such as terrorism.”
This year alone, the extremists have killed at least 1,000 civilians mostly in the nation’s northeast, where they operated freely, Human Rights Watch says.
Their bloody reign of terror put security — along with corruption and the economy — at the top of the election agenda.
Buhari campaigned as a born-again democrat to allay fears about his strict military regime while stressing that Nigeria’s security needs to be a government focus.
“It’s a question of security. Whether I was a former military officer or a politician through and through, when there is insecurity of this scale in the country, that takes the priority,” he said.
Buhari has accused his predecessor’s government of repeated setbacks in the fight against extremists.
“The misappropriation of resources provided by the government for weapons means the Nigerian military is unable to beat Boko Haram,” he said.
He admitted to abuses committed during his previous military leadership, but said he was being judged too harshly and can transition into a democratic government.
“When that military administration came under my leadership, we suspended — as a military then — part of that constitution that we felt would be difficult for us to operate,” he said.
This year’s presidential race was his fourth attempt at leadership since he was ousted from power in 1985.
