Middle East & Africa | The amazing race

Nigeria’s presidential race goes down to the wire

Three candidates still have real hopes of victory

A campaign poster of candidate of the ruling Action Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu and running mate Kashim Shettima is pictured in Lagos's Ibadan expressway on January 12, 2023 ahead of February 25 presidential election. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP) (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images)
Image: AFP
|YOLA AND KANO

If presidential elections were won by advertising, Bola Tinubu of the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) party would win Nigeria’s by a landslide. His face grins relentlessly over all corners of the country (pictured). “Posters don’t vote,” quips a member of the campaign team for Peter Obi, the candidate of a rival minor party who unexpectedly leads the polls in what is usually a two-horse race.

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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “The amazing race”

From the February 4th 2023 edition

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