In Nigeria, two of the country's main political parties have chosen their presidential candidates for the upcoming election. The ruling APC unanimously endorsed incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari, while Atiku Abubakar has won the opposition party's primaries. CGTN's Kelechi Emekalam has more.

President Muhammadu Buhari taking the stage to deliver his acceptance speech as the ruling APC party presidential candidate. He was a sole candidate and garnered all 14,842,072 votes from national delegates. President Buhari is running for the second and last time under a democratic dispensation. He ruled Nigeria between 1983 to 1985 after taking power through a military a coupe against democratically elected government headed by Shehu Shagari.

In 2015, he was elected to office under the APC, a political party formed mainly by defectors from the oldest PDP party. President Buhari now wants more time in office to consolidate the achievements during his four years in office.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI NIGERIAN PRESIDENT "We are very proud of our records from 2015 to date. We have arrested and checked the slide to anarchy on the security and economic fronts. Boko Haram is reduced to dastardly attacks on soft targets. Normalcy has returned to much of North East and neighbouring north west states. Our currency has stabilized, our reserves are now 44 United States billion dollars, a lot higher than we had in 2015."

His main challenger would be PDP's flag bearer former vice president Atiku Abubakar, also one of the key sponsors of Buhari's 2015 campaigns. Atiku defected from APC recently after accusing president Buhari of alienating him politically. He beat 11 other contestants having won 49% of the votes cast in an overnight party primaries held in the Southern city of Port Harcourt.

KELECHI EMEKALAM, ABUJA, NIGERIA "Nigerians will be headed to polls in February next year in an election widely described as too close to call. Both candidates have promised issues-based campaign. President Buhari is again selling his anti-corruption fight, finding a lasting solution to security challenges and weaning Nigeria's economy from oil dependence, while his main rival Atiku has the backing of very influential politicians across Nigeria. Kelechi Emekalam CGTN Abuja Nigeria."