Nigeria’s general elections will be held on 16 February 2019, the Independent National Electoral Commission has announced.
The date will mark the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s first mandate, though he has not revealed if he will seek another term.
Buhari came into power in 2015, beating the then-incumbent leader Goodluck Jonathan by more than 2.5 million votes.
With under 17 months remaining until the next vote, some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Party have urged the 74-year-old not to seek another mandate.
The president has spent more than five months in the U.K. this year, split into two visits, seeking treatment for an undisclosed illness.
Nigeria has been hit by a wave of Islamist attacks over the past few years, as Boko Haram seeks to enforce a strict Sharia-based system of governance.
The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions others, creating a huge humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country.
One of Buhari pledges before coming into power was that he would crush the terror group.
He has on two occasions given the army ultimatums to finish the group, both of which were not successful.
This year, during his medical leaves, vice-president Yemi Osinbajo was left in charge, and received praise from some quarters of the APC.
Whether he will seek the presidency in 2019 is not known yet.
