7119722, 10:11 AM Nigeria - Wikipedia to vote again in four years.'83] Yar'Adua died on May 5, 2010. Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as Yar'Adua's successor,'84! becoming the 14th head of state.!85![861 Jonathan went on to win the 2011 presidential election, with the international media reporting the elections as having run smoothly with relatively little violence or voter fraud, in contrast to previous elections. [87] Muhammadu Buhari is currently serving as President of Nigeria, Ahead of the general election of 2015, a merger of the biggest opposition parties — the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance), and the new PDP (a faction of serving governors of the ruling People's Democratic Party) — formed the All Progressives Congress. In the 2015 presidential election, former military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari — who had previously contested in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 presidential clections—defeated incumbent Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party by over two million votes, ending the party's sixteen-year rule in the country and marking the first time in the history of Nigeria that an incumbent president lost to an opposition candidate. Observers generally praised the election as being fair. Jonathan was generally praised for conceding defeat and limiting the risk of unrest.!88I[89l[90l[9x] ty the 2019 presidential election, Buhari was re-elected for a second term in since 2015. office defeating his closet rival Atiku Abubakar. |92) Politics Nigeria is a federal republic modelled after the United States (93 with executive power exercised by the President. The president is both head of state and head of the federal government; the president is elected by popular vote to a maximum of two four- year terms.|94] The president's power is checked by a Senate and a House of Representatives, which are combined in a bicameral body called the National Assembly. The Senate is a 109-seat body with three members from each state and one from the capital region of Abuja; members are elected by popular vote to four-year terms. The House contains 360 seats, with the number of seats per state determined by population.(94! Ethnocentrism, tribalism, religious persecution, and prebendalism have plagued Nigerian polities both before and after independence in 1960. All major parties have practised vote-rigging and other means of coercion to remain competitive. In the period before 1983 election, a report prepared by the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies showed that only the 1959 and 1979 elections were held without systemic rigging!95) In 2012, Nigeria was estimated to have lost over $400 billion to corruption since independence.!9! Kin-selective altruism is prevalent in Nigerian polities, resulting in tribalist efforts to concentrate Federal power to a particular region of their interests.[97] Nigerian National Assembly, Abuja II National symbols of Nig Flag Bicolour Emblem Coat of arms of Nigeria Anthem “Arise, O Compatiots" Animal Eagle Bird Black crowned crane Flower Costus spectabilis Because of the above issues, Nigeria's political parties are pan-national and secular in character hitpson.wikipodia orehwikiNigeria sr7119722, 10:11 AM Nigeria - Wikipedia (though this does not preclude the continuing preeminence of the dominant ethnicities).!981l99] The two major political parties are the People's Democratic Party of Nigeria and the All Progressives Congress, with twenty registered minor opposition parties. Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo are the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria and have maintained historical preeminence in Nigerian politics; competition amongst these three groups has fuelled animosity.!°8) Following the bloody civil war, nationalism has seen an increase in the southern part of the country leading to active secessionist movements such as the Oodua Peoples Congress and the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, though these groups are generally small they are somewhat representative of the entire ethnic group. Law ‘The country has a judicial branch, with the highest court being the Supreme Court of Nigeria.{94] There are three distinct systems of law in Nigei = Common law, derived from its British colonial past, and development of its own after independence; = Customary law, derived from indigenous traditional norms and practice, including the dispute resolution meetings of pre-colonial Yorubaland secret societies such as the Oyo Mesi and Ogboni, as well as the Ekpe and Okonko of Igboland and Ibibioland; = Sharia law, used only in the predominantly Muslim northem states of the country. It is an Islamic legal system that had been used long before the colonial administration. The laws of Nigeria are written down, meaning that Nigeria practises written constitution, The current written constitution of Nigeria is the 1999 constitution as amended.[100l Military The Nigerian military is charged with protecting the Federal Republic of Nigeria, promoting Nigeria's global security interests, and supporting peacekeeping efforts, especially in West Africa. This is in support of the doctrine sometimes called Pax Nigeriana. The Nigerian Military consists of an army, a navy, and an air force.(°4] The military in Nigeria has played a major role in the country's history since independence. Various juntas have seized control of the country and ruled it through most of its history. Its Nigerian Amy selt-propelled anti- last period of military rule ended in 1999 following the sudden aircrait gun death of Sani Abacha in 1998. His successor, Abdulsalam Abubakar, handed over power to the democratically elected government of Olusegun Obasanjo the next year. As Africa's most populated country, Nigeria has repositioned its military as a peacekeeping force on the continent. Since 1995, the Nigerian military, through ECOMOG mandates, has been deployed as peacekeepers in Liberia (1997), Ivory Coast (1997-1999), and Sierra Leone (1997-1999).2") Under an African Union mandate, it has stationed forces in Sudan's Darfur region to try to establish peace. The Nigerian military has been deployed across West Africa, curbing terrorism in countries such as Mali, Senegal, Chad, and Cameroon, as well as dealing with the Mali War, and getting Yahya Jammeh out of power in 2017. hitpson.wikipodia orehwikiNigeria 1287