Faith Nyasuguta
Nigerian president elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been sworn into office.
The 71 year-old took the oath of office on Monday, May 29 in Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria, in an inauguration ceremony attended by world leaders and dignitaries.
This comes during a period of unprecedented challenges for Africa’s most populous country, leaving some citizens hopeful for a better life and others skeptical that his government would perform better than the one he succeeded.
He succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari to lead a country that by 2050 is forecast to become the third most populous nation in the world, tied with the United States after India and China.
Tinubu — the former governor of Lagos, which is Nigeria’s economic hub — has promised to build on Buhari’s efforts to deliver democratic dividends to citizens in a country where deadly security crises, widespread poverty and hunger have left many frustrated and angry.
With his election still being contested in court by opposition parties and among many young Nigerians, Tinubu has also pledged to reunite the country.
The election tribunal is expected to hear the case challenging his victory as the outcome is expected within the next six months.
In February, he won the presidential elections beating Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi who took second and third positions respectively.
Some analysts say the promises made by Tinubu and the hope they bring are reminiscent of when Buhari was first elected president in 2015 as a former military head of state. His priorities were to fight insecurity and build the economy but he ended up failing to meet the expectations of many.
“No Nigerian president has come into office with so much goodwill from citizens as President Buhari but no other president has squandered it as quickly as President Buhari did,” said Dr Seun Kolade, a Nigerian development expert and associate professor at De Montfort University, in the U.K.
“In terms of expectations and what is possible, this is a very mediocre eight years, to put it mildly.”
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