Opinion Turning a new page

The significance of Nigeria’s successful presidential election cannot be overemphasised. After all, some Africa watchers had expressed apprehensions that Nigeria may not exist beyond 2015. Former military ruler and general Muhammadu Buhari has defeated the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan, by 54 per cent of the vote to 45. While Buhari has hailed his victory as a sign that the country has finally embraced democracy, Jonathan has earned praise from several quarters, including the victor, for peacefully relinquishing power. A sitting Nigerian president has never been defeated in an election.

Since gaining independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has been plagued by several coups — Buhari was deposed in one in 1985 — and most elections have been heavily rigged or even annulled by the military. Although the 2011 election was a welcome departure, it was not enough. There were fears the 2015 polls wouldn’t take place at all or be marred by large-scale violence, given the determination on both sides to win and the chances of a political-military plot to prevent the election rather than let the incumbent lose. In the end, the election was only delayed by six weeks, apparently to give the army more time to win back territory from the Boko Haram.

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Divided between its north and south along tense ethnic and religious lines, Nigeria has been a test case for postcolonial Africa. Electoral violence could easily have caused a larger, uncontrollable conflagration, which would have combined with the Boko Haram’s attempts at establishing an Islamic state in the northeast and torn Nigeria apart. Instead, this country of 170 million has not only surprised the international community but also, overnight, become a model for neighbouring states in Africa, which could take heart from Nigerians’ newfound confidence that politicians can indeed be removed through the ballot.