Nigeria election: Muhammadu Buhari re-elected as President

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has been re-elected for a second four-year term, final results from Saturday’s general election show.

The 76-year-old defeated his main rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, with a margin of just under four million votes. 

Mr Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party has rejected the result.

Delays and violence marred the run-up to the poll but no independent observer has cited electoral fraud.

Turnout was just below 35% of registered voters, according to the Nigerian electoral commission (Inec).

A former soldier, Mr Buhari led a military regime in the 1980s, and was first elected president in 2015. He will face a range of problems including power shortages, corruption, security threats, and an economic slowdown.

The president has quelled a militant Islamist rebellion in Nigeria’s north-east, but Boko Haram remains active. There has also been an upsurge in violence in the Middle Belt as traditional herders and more settled farmers have clashed

By: BBC