The next election deadline

Presidential hopefuls are quietly launching campaigns but doubts surround the party congresses due in December

Within two months, Nigeria's political parties are due to chose their presidential candidates and launch their campaigns for next May's elections. So far, there is an eerie surreality about the political contest. Serious candidates are reluctant to step into the ring wholeheartedly, almost all the political parties appear on the brink of schism and old political alliances are splintering without producing effective new alliances. All this is set against a gargantuan year for Nigeria's oil earnings.

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Olusegun Obasanjo, Transparency test, Atiku Abubakar, Ibrahim Babangida, David Gifford, Margaret Thatcher, Tim Bell, Mohammed Gusau, Nasir el-Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Lining up, Jerry Gana, Ahmed Makarfi, Peter Odili, Buba Marwa, Mamman Kontagora, Obong Victor Attah, Mike Okhai Akhigbe, Sam Egwu, Sarah Jibril, Abdulsalami Abubakar, British, Swiss

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