Old hopefuls are jostling to succeed Nigeria’s President Buhari

IN MOST PLACES, elections are about the future. In Nigeria, oddly, they start with a bow to a coup-ridden past. Every four years wannabe presidents stream to a sprawling hilltop villa, where they try to win the favour of Ibrahim Babangida, a former military dictator. The next big stop on this pilgrimage is the farmhouse of Olusegun Obasanjo, who also was head of a military government (and was later an elected president). The ambitious also visit the palaces of local chiefs and religious leaders.This year is no different, as rivals jostle to replace Muhammadu Buhari, another former military ruler, whose second and final term as an elected president ends next year. The contest is perhaps the most important since the end of military rule in 1999. At stake is whether Africa’s most populous nation will continue its slide into economic stagnation and ungovernability.