Nairobi (EFE) power since 2015.
Thus, Buhari will retire after having exhausted his second consecutive four-year term allowed by the constitution.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), almost 93.5 million people are registered to vote this Saturday in more than 176,800 polling stations throughout the country.
The polls will be open from 08:00 local time (07:00 GMT) to 14:00 local time (13:00 GMT) in elections that are presented as the most competitive since the restoration of democracy in 1999.
Eighteen candidates are competing in this presidential race, but the polls indicate that only three have a real chance of winning: the Muslim Bola Tinubu, candidate of the governmental Congress of All Progressives (APC); Atiku Abubakar, from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); and the Christian Peter Obi, from the Labor Party.
The most early morning of all this Saturday has been the Labor candidate, who went to his polling station in Agulu, the most populous city in the state of Anambra (of which Obi was governor), early in the morning and was sure of his electoral victory in front of both local and international media.
To ensure the security of the elections, the Nigerian Police reported the deployment of more than 301,900 security agents throughout the nation.
In addition, the country has announced the closure of all its land borders from last midnight until this Sunday.
On the other hand, all vehicle movements have been prohibited from 00:00 local time (23:00 GMT) to 6:00 local time (5:00 GMT) this Saturday.
As a result, the roads of Nigeria’s biggest cities, such as Lagos, known for their huge traffic jams, have woken up empty of vehicles.
The winner of the presidential vote will inherit a nation plagued by growing insecurity in some parts of the country, with constant attacks by criminal gangs that kidnap civilians for lucrative ransom, jihadist groups and pro-independence rebels.
It will also have to cope with the devaluation of the local currency (naira), runaway inflation and high unemployment, despite Nigeria standing out as Africa’s top oil producer and the continent’s largest economy.
