Nigeria’s Ruling Party Leader Tinubu to Run for President
Nigeria’s Ruling Party Leader Tinubu to Run for President
(Bloomberg) -- Bola Tinubu, leader of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress, officially announced a plan to run for president of Africa’s biggest oil producer in an election scheduled for next year.
Tinubu, who was governor of Lagos state from 1999 to 2007, told reporters of his intention Monday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the capital.
“I’ve informed the president,” said the 69-year-old Tinubu, a Muslim from southwest Nigeria.
Tinubu is seeking the nomination of the APC, the party he helped form in 2013 as opposition to the then ruling People’s Democratic Party.
The APC is expected to hold its convention next month, where it will determine its national leadership. The party will subsequently organize a process to select its chosen successor to Buhari, who will step down following elections in February 2023 after serving two terms.
Tinubu’s prospects of becoming the APC’s candidate will hinge on whether his party opts to maintain an unofficial convention of rotating the presidency between the largely Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
While speculation is growing that other high-profile politicians such as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will seek the ruling party’s nomination, Tinubu is the first to formally declare his ambitions.
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