Heads of state from across Africa, foreign dignitaries, religious leaders and traditional rulers gathered in Eagle Square in the center of Abuja for the ceremony and a military parade to mark the start of his four-year term.

“As president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria I will discharge my duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the constitution,” Jonathan said as he took the oath of office.

The former zoology student won elections last month which, while far from perfect, were deemed to have reflected the will of the people in a nation that had known virtually nothing but military rule and rigged votes for the past half-century.

Jonathan emerged from the polls with a credible mandate, having won 59 percent of the vote, but with his ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chastened by a weaker parliamentary majority and the loss of several powerful state governorships.

The vote threw religious and ethnic fault lines into sharp relief. Jonathan, a Christian from the south, swept to victory in his home region but his northern rival, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, performed strongly in the mostly Muslim north.

Some 800 people were killed in riots and sectarian killings in northern towns after Jonathan’s victory was announced, with homes, churches and mosques razed, Human Rights Watch said.

“The profound challenges facing Nigeria are, at their heart, human rights problems,” said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“The Jonathan presidency should place human rights, and long overdue reforms, at the top of the administration’s agenda.”

Buhari, one of the few living former heads of state absent from Sunday’s ceremony, has challenged the election result.
 

Jonathan faces the toughest challenge of his career uniting the country after the unrest, and his relationship with his opponents will be key if he is to galvanise support for reforms and govern strongly.

The first big test will be his choice of ministers.

“It is a delicate balancing act,” said Oyewole.

“He has to balance out the regional interests to ensure the cabinet displays a federal character, he has to reflect a religious coloration that ensures different parts of the country are carried along, but he is also going to have to reward some of the people that backed him,” he told Reuters.

Jonathan is the first head of state from the restive oil-producing Niger Delta and also carries the expectations of his home region. He brokered an amnesty in 2009 which ended years of attacks on oil facilities, but thousands of former gunmen remain without jobs.

“People are very optimistic based on hope rather than reality,” said Bismarck Rewane, head of Lagos-based consultancy Financial Derivatives.

“If those expectations are not managed, a few months down the road he will be getting the blame for things that are beyond his control,” he told Reuters.

Jonathan will also have to deal with the growing threat from radical Islamist sect Boko Haram in remote northeastern Nigeria, which has been carrying out almost daily killings and fire bombings of police stations with impunity.

Security was tightened in the capital days before Sunday’s ceremony. Joint police and army checkpoints were set up on all roads into the city and helicopters buzzed overhead.

Jonathan is serving what would have been the second term of late northern president Umaru Yar’Adua and there is an expectation in the north that at the next elections in four years, a northern candidate will take the ruling party ticket.

But should Jonathan succeed with his reform plans, particularly privatising the power sector and ending chronic power shortages, popular opinion could again swing behind him.

“People will be looking for tangible results and that will be a key determinant of his political future come 2015,” said Oyewole of the Abuja-based think tank.