The 2007 general was held on 14 April where governorship and state assembly representatives were elected.
The late Umaru Yar'Adua won the highly controversial election for the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and was sworn in on 29 May.
Chief European Union observer, Max van den Berg, reported that the handling of the polls had "fallen far short" of basic international standards, and that "the process cannot be considered to be credible".
[16] A spokesman for the United States Department of State said it was "deeply troubled" by election polls, calling them "flawed", and said they hoped the political parties would resolve any differences over the election through peaceful, constitutional means.
[21][22][23] The election followed controversy as to whether a Muslim or Christian should be allowed to become president given the tradition of rotating the top office between the religions and following the death of Umaru Yar'Adua, who was a Muslim, and Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, assuming the interim presidency.
[29] General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress emerged as the winner of the presidential elections and was sworn in on 29 May 2015.
The 2015 election was a success because there were tensions everywhere concerning the difficult political and security environment of the country at that time.
Goodluck Ebele Johnathan of the People's Democratic Party lost his seat to Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress.
The primary contender was former vice-president Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
[33] Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Yele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC), and Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for a New Nigeria (ANN) were other popular candidates who were all relatively young.