President-elect Tinubu Among Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People

Nigeria's newly elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made it to the list of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2023.

Tinubu, who ran for the presidential election for the first time at the age of 71, has won and will get into power next month. Previously, he served two consecutive terms as governor of Lagos, which is Nigeria's largest city.

Alongside Tinubu, many powerful political personalities include the King of the United Kingdom Charles III, 46th U.S. President Joe Biden and Minority Leader of the United States Senate Mitch McConnell.

The list also features soccer player Lionel Messi, CEO of Twitter Elon Musk, actor Michael B. Jordan, singer Beyonce, actress Angela Bassett and more.

Considering Tinubu's profile, Time Magazine read, "Winning an election in Africa's most populous country is no easy feat. But Nigeria's newly elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has had nearly two decades to prepare."

"Called Jagaban, or 'leader of the warriors', by his supporters, the now 71-year-old ran in a presidential election for the first time this March," it continued, Punch reported. "His campaign slogan, 'It's my turn', was a nod to his role as a longtime political power broker."

The magazine further mentioned that Tinubu helped to restore Nigeria's democracy in 1999 after he fought with "military rule and then served two consecutive terms as governor of Lagos."

"But Tinubu's win with the ruling All Progressives Congress party came in a fraught election and by a slim margin over Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi," the magazine added. "It was the first time Nigerian voters contended with a third-party candidate, and many discontented young Nigerians yearning for change pinned their hopes on Obi."

Tinubu won the election with 8,794,726 votes and Obi came third with 6,101,533 votes, while Abubakar received 6,984,520 votes.

The magazine noted that Tinubu has been "marred by allegations of intimidation and vote rigging, the outcome of the ballot is being challenged in court," adding that the presidential-elect is now facing a "litany of crises in a fractured nation, including deep-rooted corruption, religious insurgencies, and shortages of cash, fuel, and power in a crumbling economy."

Presidential election results came out on Feb. 25 and Labour Party candidate Obi filed petitions against INEC and All Progressives Congress (APC)'s candidate Tinubu after the latter was named president-elect.

The petition was filed almost a month after the presidential election results were announced and a close source to the issue disclosed that Obi took his time before filing the petition so that he could collect proper backup for the claims he put on Tinubu.

Following the elections in the country, Tinubu left for Europe to seek medical care after falling ill. "He was attended to by local doctors but he has left for Europe for proper medical care," a source disclosed last month.

Since then, there is no news of Tinubu returning to the country.