Muhammadu Buhari wins
Nigeria may have held its first true, fair election 55 years after Great Britain granted the Federation of Nigeria full independence as a constitutional democracy including three the country’s three quite distinct regions.
What a great event! As one of my friends 50 years ago, I included Tchuma Azikewe, son of Nigeria’s last Governor General. We all saw his country as a wonderful opportunity .. remember Jack Kennedy distributing Thomas Paine books across Africa?
Nigeria was a special promise because so many of its people, especially the Igbo, were highly educated. The country’s greatest author, Chinhua Achebe became one of my life time favorites as her wrote about the problems of escaping colonial rule! Oil wealth should have guaranteed prosperity.
Sadly, Nigeria has been riven by strife between its three regional components, rape by the oil companies that promised wealth, and now an Islamist revolution called Boker Haram.
Yet, I still read a Nigerian newspaper every week and want very badly for this to be a historic event for all fo Africa!