The ruling party's candidate has 44% of tallied votes, but the opposition says counting is flawed.

Anne Soy
Senior Africa correspondent, BBC News

Image source, AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled France’s new Africa strategy which will see a reduction in its troops on the continent as more local forces co-run its bases.

It comes just weeks after Russia promised more military support and training for countries across West Africa.

Mr Macron announced the new strategy ahead of a four-nation Africa visit as more global powers vie for influence on the continent.

President Macron described French military bases in Africa as a heritage from the past.

But he said his country should not be a scapegoat for failures in the fight against extremist groups in the Sahel.

French forces, who had been fighting against militants in the region for more than a decade, pulled out of Mali last year after the country invited in the Wagner group.

Mr Macron described the group as the life insurance of failing regimes.

French troops were also asked to leave Burkina Faso in January amid a growing anti-France sentiment.

Mr Macron’s newly unveiled strategy is meant to redefine France’s relationship with Africa as competition from Russia and China grows.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The co-founder of one of Senegal's most famous bands, Touré Kunda, has died in Paris at the age of 73.

Ismaïla Touré formed the group with his brother in the 1970s.

Much of their time was spent in France where they sang in six languages, blending southern Senegalese melodies with rock, reggae and jazz.

The group collaborated with other well-known musicians and bands including Carlos Santana and Talking Heads.

Ismaïla Touré was a social activist campaigning for the rights of children and the homeless.

Hamdi Bataw says persuading several players to reverse their decision on retirement is his 'most important' job ahead of March's Afcon qualifiers against Tunisia.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urges EU institutions to take action to stop migrant boat crossings.

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A European Union observer mission has faulted the lack of transparency and operational failures in the Nigerian election, according to its preliminary findings.

It said there was confidence in the independence and professionalism of the electoral body during preparations for the elections.

But public trust waned over lack of efficient planning and effective communication in the process - including on the election day, the observers said.

Nigerians cast their votes in a presidential and parliamentary general election on Saturday.

The observers noted that some poll centres opened late and polling procedures were not always followed.

They said the uploading of the results using an electronic system did not work, raising concerns as transmission of presidential election results forms was delayed.

The observer team has urged stakeholders in the election to uphold peace until the process is completed and called for any disputes arising to be addressed through legal channels.

Image source, AFP

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged the country’s electoral body to save the country from “a looming danger” over what he described as corruption of the electoral process.

In a statement, he said tension was building up and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to “let all elections that do not pass the credibility and transparency test be cancelled”.

He said the Independent National Electoral Commission's (Inec) decision to revert to manual transmission of results was deliberate despite investing on an electronic system that would allow immediate transmission of results from polling units.

“It is no secret that Inec officials, at the operational level, have been allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not to work and to revert to the manual transmission of results which is manipulated and the results doctored,” he said.

The retired president also appealed to citizens to be patient and expressed confidence in the “system working right”.

“I strongly believe that nobody will toy with the future and fortune of Nigeria at this juncture,” he said.

A man who was close to Salman Abedi had been investigated by MI5 years earlier, the BBC can reveal.

The ruling party candidate takes an early lead in presidential results despite losing in Lagos.

A doctor accused of being involved in a trafficking plot admits he lied about a kidney donor.

Nduka Orjinmo
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Getty Images

Provisional results from Nigeria's presidential election show that the ruling party has been defeated in Katsina, the home state of outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, by the opposition's Atiku Abubakar.

This is either an indication of disillusionment with Mr Buhari's eight-year tenure or his cult-like following hasn’t rubbed off on his All Progressives Congress (APC) party, and its candidate Bola Tinubu.

Katsina is one of the states battered by insecurity in Nigeria, with many communities ransacked by armed men locally referred to as bandits.

When I visited in December, many people in parts of the state were displeased with the direction in which the country was heading and were apathetic towards the elections. That less than a third of eligible voters cast their ballots in Katsina shows how unsatisfied many people are.

Observers from the Commonwealth have released a statement describing Nigeria's election as “largely peaceful”.

The chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group, and former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, said people were largely accorded their constitutional right to vote.

“We congratulate all Nigerians for their determination, patience and resilience displayed throughout the electoral process," Mr Mbeki said.

However, he did highlight challenges - namely some polling units being ill-equipped with sufficient lighting, and recommended the electoral commission sets up a post-election review.

He also said those who had grievances about the election should express their complaints through available legal channels.

Commonwealth observers were in Benue, Edo, Kano, Lagos, Ondo, Rivers and Sokoto states as well as the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja).

The body will leave on 2 March, when the observers will submit a full report.

The presidential candidate for the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has won by a landslide in the south-eastern Enugu state.

He gained 428,640 votes compared to 4,772 for the ruling APC's Bola Tinubu and 15,749 for the opposition PDP's Atiku Abubakar.

This is the first officially announced victory for Mr Obi, who is seeking to disrupt the traditional two-party domination of the APC and PDP.

Joshua Ajayi
BBC News, Abuja

The agents of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party, have walked out of the National Collation Centre, where official election results are being announced.

Dino Melaye of the PDP alleged that the electoral commission, Inec, had been compromised by the ruling All Progressives Congress party (APC): "We have evidence of Bvas machines malfunctioning in several states and we have asked the commission to provide us the state results on its portal as promised but they declined," he said.

Inec chairman Mahmood Yakubu said he had full confidence in the results being presented by the returning officers from the states and would continue with the announcements.

Nigeria's ruling party candidate has won Oyo state in his south-west stronghold by a landslide, official results say.

He got 449,884 votes, compared to the 182,977 of his main rival Atiku Abubakar and the 99,110 of Labour's Peter Obi.

Cape Verde become the smallest nation ever to qualify for the Basketball World Cup, joining Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast and South Sudan as Africa's representatives at this year's tournament.

Joshua Ajayi
BBC News, Abuja

An agent of Nigeria's Labour Party has warned that it will not accept any of the presidential election results if the election commission does not upload them on its online portal, before announcing them at its headquarters in the capital Abuja.

Labour's candidate is Peter Obi, who is contesting the presidential poll for the first time.

Agents of four other parties - including the main opposition PDP - have expressed a similar view.

However, a representative of the ruling APC has disagreed with them, saying the process should continue and Nigeria's constitution provides for results to be contested at election petition tribunals.

To be declared a winner in Nigeria's presidential election, a candidate needs to have the most votes and a quarter of ballots cast in 25 of the 36 states plus Abuja.

This is intended to ensure that the new president has reasonable support across the country.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, with a population of more than 200 million.

The election is being contested by 18 candidates, with three frontrunners - the ruling party's Bola Tinubu, the main opposition's Atiku Abubakar, and the small Labour Party's Peter Obi.

Provisional results are coming in from each state, but they become official only after they are confirmed by the head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), Mahmood Yakubu

Middlesex sign South Africa left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj as their second overseas for the 2023 season.

Yemisi Adegoke
BBC News, Yola, Adamawa state

Main opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar has comfortably won the presidential election in his home state of Adamawa, according to provisional results from state election officials.

Mr Abubakar got 417,611 votes; his closest rival Bola Tinubu 182,881.

Labour's Peter Obi came third, with a better than expected 105,648 votes.