Muhammadu Buhari's swearing in, a first for Nigeria

Moves toward power transfer

A new wave of air will soon cover the atmosphere of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy as new President, Muhammadu Buhari prepares to take up the baton of leadership.

Security across the capital was tight as power was peacefully transferred from the ruling party to the opposition for the first time ever in the west African nation.Thousands of policemen patrolled the Abuja's hotels and set up barricades on all roads leading in and out of the city.

Pre-event activities took their stead to make this day remarkable and memorial as can be seen below:

This marks the first peaceful transfer of power between rival parties in the nation.

When he takes over from Goodluck Jonathan, he'll have to tackle a stubborn militant insurgency and lingering fuel shortages despite Nigeria being a leading oil producer.

Buhari has ruled Nigeria before and was among military strongmen who dominated the country between the 1960s and the 1990s.

A military coup brought him to power in 1983 and another military coup toppled him two years later. The nation's history is riddled with coups and military rules. Umaru Yar'Adua, the last President before Jonathan, died in office.

Buhari's regime was known for its "war on indiscipline," which critics say was marred by human rights abuses.

Before the election, African affairs analyst Ayo Johnson said Buhari's military background may be what voters need to feel safe from the deadly Boko Haram militant group.

"Many Nigerians will not forget he was a military leader, during a dictatorship," Johnson said. "Or maybe they will feel that they need a military leader to address fundamental problems such as terrorism."

This year alone, the extremists have killed at least 1,000 civilians mostly in the nation's northeast, where they operated freely, Human Rights Watch says. Their bloody reign of terror put security, along with corruption and the economy at the top of the election agenda.

Buhari campaigned as a born-again democrat to allay fears about his strict military regime while stressing that Nigeria's security needs to be a government focus.

"It's a question of security. Whether I was a former military officer or a politician through and through, when there is insecurity of this scale in the country, that takes the priority," he said.”

Buhari has accused his predecessor's government of repeated setbacks in the fight against extremists.

This year's presidential race was his fourth attempt at leadership since he was ousted from power in 1985.