Tatyana Denisova

Sergey Kostelyanets

• Occupation: Leading Researcher, Head, Centre for Sociological and Political Sciences Studies, Institute for African Studies, RAS
• Affiliation: Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
  
• Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

At the beginning of 2023, the second (and last) term of Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency came to an end. On February 25, there took place a general election, as a result of which Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, was elected as the new head of state. The election was held against the backdrop of a marked polarization of the country along ethnic and religious lines, exacerbated by the divisive rhetoric of certain presidential conten-ders.

The new leader will face a host of challenges ranging from a security crisis to a mismanaged economy. Political instability persists in many parts of the country: terrorists of Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province, operate in the northeast; the conflict between pastoralists and farmers is escalating in the northwest and central regions; in the south, in the Niger Delta, anti-government groups engage in oil theft and vandalism; there is an upsurge of pro-Biafra separatist sentiment in the southeast, etc. At the same time, the coming to power in Nigeria of B.Tinubu, who actively participated in the political life of the country during the terms of M.Buhari and supported the former president in many undertakings, is unlikely to lead to fundamental changes in domestic, economic and foreign policymaking, including Abuja’s relations with Moscow.