Nigerians prepare for the official inauguration and swearing in ceremony of new president Muhammadu Buhari. SHOWS: ABUJA, NIGERIA (MAY 27, 2015) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC SCENE 2. SIGN OVER ROAD READING (English): "YOU ARE WELCOME" 3. VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC SCENE /MILITARY OFFICERS CHECKING CARS ABUJA, NIGERIA (MAY 28, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 4. VARIOUS OF POSTER WITH PICTURES OF BUHARI AND HIS DEPUTY READING (English): 'CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR INAUGURATION' 5. VARIOUS OF FLAGS OF COUNTRIES EXPECTED TO ATTEND INAUGURATION 6. VARIOUS OF MEN FIXING FENCE 7. VARIOUS OF MAN SELLING SOUVENIRS 8. SOUVENIRS WITH IMAGES OF BUHARI FOR SALE 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ABUJA RESIDENT, YUSUFU ABDULAHI, SAYING: "We are happy, so we are praying for progress this year, so by the name of God, insha' Allah, after this one I believe that Nigeria will be okay. So we say change, we prayed for the change, the change has come, we are praying for it to stay. That is our prayer." ABUJA, NIGERIA (MAY 27, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 10. VARIOUS OF BANNER READING (English): 'EXHIBITION OF PAST NIGERIAN LEADERS' 11. VARIOUS OF FAMILY LOOKING AT PORTRAITS 12. VARIOUS OF PORTRAIT OF MUHAMMADU BUHARI 13. VARIOUS PORTRAITS OF GOODLUCK JONATHAN 14. PORTRAITS BEING DISPLAYED ON EASEL 15. A PORTRAIT OF LATE NIGERIAN PRESIDENT, SANI ABACHA 16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTIST, EFE OKORARE, SAYING: "I think basically, most people will be doing portraits of Buhari because he is the new president that is coming in. But this exhibition has taken us back to 1960 from Tafawa Belewa, up to Goodluck and the future government in the next couple of days." ABUJA, NIGERIA (MAY 28, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 17. VARIOUS OF VENDOR HOLDING NEWSPAPER READING (English): "DON'T PROBE ME ALONE, JONATHAN TELLS BUHARI" ABUJA, NIGERIA (MAY 27, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 18. VARIOUS OF STREET LIGHT POLES WITH NIGERIAN FLAGS BLOWING IN WIND STORY: Nigeria's capital city of Abuja was preparing on Thursday (May 28) for the upcoming inauguration ceremony of president elect Muhammadu Buhari. At Eagle Square, the official venue for the swearing-in, flags of countries whose representatives are expected to attend, fluttered in the wind. Souvenirs with images of Buhari and flags of his party, the All Progressives Party, were already being sold in anticipation of the event. Muhammadu Buhari will be sworn in on Friday (May 29), after winning a recent election and unseating incumbent Goodluck Jonathan. Three decades after seizing power in a military coup, Buhari became the first Nigerian to oust a sitting president through the ballot box, putting him in charge of Africa's biggest economy. Goodluck Jonathan's People's Democratic Party (PDP) has been in charge since the end of army rule in 1999 but had been losing popularity due to a string of corruption scandals and the rise of Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in the northeast. Many Nigerians are optimistic that Buhari and his new government will be able to tackle the many challenges facing the country. "We are happy, so we are praying for progress this year, so by the name of God, insha' Allah, after this one I believe that Nigeria will be okay. So we say change, we prayed for the change, the change has come, we are praying for it to stay. That is our prayer," said Yusufu Abdulahi. Meanwhile, artist and curator Efe Okorare is making the most of the inauguration, with an exhibition of portraits of past, outgoing and incoming presidents of Nigeria. The portraits shows Nigerian heads of state from 1960 to the present day. "I think basically, most people will be doing portraits of Buhari because he is the new president that is coming in. But this exhibition has taken us back to 1960 from Tafawa Belewa, up to Goodluck and the future government in the next couple of days," he said. Buhari seized power in a 1983 coup only to be ousted 18 months later by another general. Since then Buhari has declared himself a convert to democracy, running and losing several elections but always coming back for more on a ticket of cleaning up Nigeria's dirty politics. His inner circle have acknowledged the hard work ahead in building bridges in a country of 170 million people split along ethnic, religious and regional lines.

• published: 28 May 2015
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