idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store

Event


institutionlogo


03/09/2023 - 03/09/2023 | Hamburg

GIGA Event (online) “Nigeria after the Elections: What Next? ”

The GIGA Speaker Series on African Affairs aims at painting a nuanced picture of sub-Saharan Africa by discussing political and socio-economic developments on a regular basis. We provide a platform for excellent African researchers to increase the visibility of African perspectives on current affairs in Germany. Moreover, with our series, we aim to further strengthen collaborations with African partners. The series takes place around four times a year and is available to the public.

Voters in Nigeria, over 90 million in number, are expected to turn out in force in the high-stakes 25 February presidential polls as incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari completes his constitutionally defined two-term limit in office. For the first time since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, observers expect a three-way presidential race. Bola Tinubu, the controversial former governor of Lagos state, from the ruling All Progressives Congress will compete with the federalist former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and charismatic Peter Obi of the Labour Party, the latter of whom is especially popular among the country’s over 12 million first-time youth voters. Without a sitting president able to capitalise on incumbency advantage running, the political atmosphere is highly tense and the chances of a tight race high.

The growing popular distrust in political institutions, deep ethnoreligious cleavages, as well as a highly partisan traditional media could undermine the legitimacy of the elections and escalate social unrest in several volatile parts of the country. The chronic Islamist insurgency in the northeast along with the upsurge in organised crime and secessionist activities in the south could all be flamed by social media abuse and disinformation around voting day.

While the 2023 presidential polls in Nigeria – Africa’s powerhouse – could bolster its democracy, they could also set the country on the path of electoral disputation, unrest, and democratic backsliding if digital disinformation and misinformation are allowed to fester.  

This event will feature a preliminary analysis of the electoral results. Three eminent experts from Nigeria and West Africa will discuss the latter and outline their implications for both the future of Nigeria and politics in the subregion.

Speakers:
Dr. Sa'eed Husaini is a Junior Fellow at the Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa at the University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.

Prof. Dr. Lynda Iroulo is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University, Qatar.

Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Studies of the University of Nigeria.

Moderation:
Dr. Martin Acheampong is a Research Fellow at the GIGA Institute for African Affairs.

Information on participating / attending:
Please register. All registered participants will receive further information with details of the online event and a link to participate.

Date:

03/09/2023 16:00 - 03/09/2023 18:00

Event venue:

Online
Hamburg
Hamburg
Germany

Target group:

all interested persons

Relevance:

international

Subject areas:

Politics

Types of events:

Seminar / workshop / discussion

Entry:

02/23/2023

Sender/author:

Verena Schweiger

Department:

Fachabteilung Kommunikation

Event is free:

yes

Language of the text:

English

URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event73666


Help

Search / advanced search of the idw archives
Combination of search terms

You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.

Brackets

You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).

Phrases

Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.

Selection criteria

You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).

If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).