20100920
reuters

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian state governor Abubakar Bukola Saraki entered the presidential election race on Monday, the fourth candidate from the ruling party in the predominantly Muslim north to take on southern incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

The Kwara state governor, who announced his ambitions on his website (www.abubakarbukolasaraki.com), faces an uphill battle to secure the support of the northern factions of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) that would be needed to unseat Jonathan in primaries next month, ahead of the January presidential poll.

Saraki, 47, faces three northern PDP rivals already in the race -- former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida, former vice president Atiku Abubakar and Aliyu Gusau, who quit last week as national security adviser in order to run.

"If there's a fragmented race among northerners, none of them will win. The north has to decide," said Bismark Rewane of Lagos-based business consultancy Financial Derivatives.

Gusau's resignation caused Jonathan to cancel a trip at the last minute to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, showing how seriously he takes the various challenges for the PDP ticket.

The PDP nominee has won all three presidential races since the end of military rule in 1999, making the outcome of past elections a foregone conclusion and bringing Africa's most populous nation close to being a one-party state.

But this time the race is more contentious, with no consensus PDP candidate and no obvious "godfather" -- the powerful background figures who have in the past hand-picked the party's nominee.

Jonathan formally launched his campaign on Saturday with a rally in the capital, Abuja, attended by more than two thirds of the country's powerful state governors.