Tinubu faces Atiku and Obi in Nigeria's election on 16 January 2027

Who is running

Bola Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu, 74, seeks a second term for the All Progressives Congress (APC), the governing party. His running mate is Vice-President Kashim Shettima. His campaign points to the removal of the petrol subsidy and to foreign exchange reforms. Opposition parties criticise the effect of these policies on the cost of living.

Atiku Abubakar, 79, a former vice-president, is the candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the party around which an opposition coalition was built. His running mate is Rotimi Amaechi, 61, a former governor of Rivers State and former transport minister.

Peter Obi, 65, a former governor of Anambra State, runs for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), another opposition party. His running mate is Rabiu Kwankwaso, 69, a former governor of Kano State. Omoyele Sowore, 55, stands for the African Action Congress (AAC). The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which runs the election, lists 18 candidates in all.

How the vote works

The winner needs the highest number of votes and at least a quarter of the votes in two-thirds of the states and in the Federal Capital Territory. If no candidate meets both conditions, the constitution requires a second election within 21 days.

Polling units open at 8:30 a.m. and close at 2:30 p.m. local time. Voters in the queue at that hour may still vote. There are 176,846 polling units, and the register holds about 103 million voters. The National Assembly, the federal parliament, is elected on the same day.

How the race got here

President Tinubu signed a new Electoral Act on 18 February 2026. On 26 February 2026 INEC moved the election from 20 February 2027 to 16 January 2027 and said the new law had changed the legal deadlines. Muslims had raised concerns that the earlier dates would fall in the fasting month of Ramadan.

The ADC announced on 27 May 2026 that Atiku Abubakar had won its primary with 1,846,370 votes, ahead of Rotimi Amaechi with 504,117. Amaechi rejected the result at first and later became the running mate. Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso had joined the ADC coalition but left it for the NDC. The APC had nominated Tinubu the weekend before.

Campaigning began on 19 August 2026 and must end 24 hours before election day. INEC published the final list of candidates on 12 September 2026.

What happens next

INEC says the result of each polling unit will be uploaded to its results portal, called IReV.

Elections for state governors and state assemblies follow on 6 February 2027. The current presidential term expires on 28 May 2027.