It’s a year of transition for 11 countries in Africa.
After a much-criticized delay, presidential elections pushed through in Nigeria this weekend. It will be President Goodluck Jonathan’s biggest challenge this year, after an Ebola scare in June and amid insurgency in the north by militant group Boko Haram. He is facing an old rival in Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who seized power during a coup d’etat in 1983.
Jonathan and Buhari are the two frontrunners in a 14-way race to determine Nigeria’s next leader, a process that has been marked by violence. On the eve of this year’s elections, suspected Boko Haram militants beheaded 23 people and set fire to the homes in a town in northeast Nigeria. During the last presidential election in 2011, when Jonathan bested Buhari, postelection demonstrations left 800 people dead in northern Nigeria.