Nigeria’s main presidential hopefuls court voters in two key cities on Saturday, as election campaigning reaches its climax with one week to go before the ballot.
The commercial hub of Lagos in the southwest is expected to grind to a halt as President Muhammadu Buhari visits for a rally in front of tens of thousands of supporters.
His main opposition rival, Atiku Abubakar, is also holding a “mega-rally” in the capital, Abuja.
Both events are among the final stops on the campaign trail around Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory before voting begins next Saturday.
Buhari, 76, wants a second, four-year term while Abubakar, 72, is hoping to finally secure the presidency after four previous attempts.
A record 84,004,084 voters are registered this year — up 18 percent from 2015, when Buhari became the first opposition candidate in Nigerian history to defeat a sitting president.