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Nigeria's Muslim Candidate Wins Election

CBN

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The party of former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari is celebrating their candidate's victory in Nigeria's presidential election.

"We have won it!" Garba Shehu, Buhari's spokesman, declared outside the opposition party's headquarters.

According to Nigeria's aviation minister, President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the South, called to congratulate his Muslim opponent Tuesday evening.
 
Earlier Shehu expressed caution over the victory.

"We are not out of the woods yet. We don't know what tricks the government is going to play," he warned.

Buhari's win marks the first time in Nigeria's history that an opposition party has democratically taken control from the ruling party.

"It sends a clear message to the people in government that you cannot take the people of Nigeria for granted and that Nigerian democracy is maturing," said journalist and political analyst Kadaria Ahmed.

The news comes as Boko Haram's brutal jihad on the nation has exacerbated relations between Christians and Muslims.

Over the weekend, extremists killed 41 people, including a legislator, and scared hundreds of people from polling stations in the northeastern Nigeria.

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