Tinubu Sworn In As Nigeria’s President, Succeeds Buhari

Bola Tinubu, the former Lagos governor who is credited with helping the city-state, Nigeria’s commercial capital, increase its revenue base, has been sworn in as the country’s new president.

He took the oath of office from Chief Justice Olukayode Ariwoola in a colourful ceremony attended by local and foreign dignitaries on Monday in Abuja, the capital. The presidents of Ghana and Rwanda were among a number of leaders from across the continent who were present.

Tinubu, 71, succeeds Muhammadu Buhari, who was ineligible to run again after two four-year terms that began in 2015. Both men are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The new president, the fifth since the return of democracy in 1999, will have to tackle a struggling economy and widespread insecurity in Africa’s most populous country.

His supporters say he will replicate his success in diversifying Lagos’s tax revenue and increasing its internally generated revenue to the national stage.

But critics say he enriched himself during two terms in office as governor and got his cronies in government to assign him an enormous pension after exiting power. In the run-up to the 2023 vote, there were questions about his wealth, his health – as he slurred during speeches – and his academic credentials.

Tinubu, also a former senator, aided Buhari’s rise to the presidency in 2015 as he defeated the incumbent president at the time to make history.