NIGERIA’S former finance minister Olu Falae huddled with advisers on Thursday after he became the first official candidate for the Nigerian presidency and the flagbearer of the south-west based Alliance for Democracy (AD). The radical leftist AD is one of three parties running in the polls, alongside the rightwing All Peoples Party and centre-left Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Falae (59) was jailed by late military ruler General Sani Abacha and released by current head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. The PDP is still to choose its candidate, with the two frontrunners former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo and former vice president Alex Ekwueme.