Call for Nigerian election re-run

LAGOS – The two main opposition parties yesterday denounced the conduct of Nigeria’s presidential elections while an influential, homegrown observer group called for a cancellation of the vote meant to cement civilian rule.

The Transition Monitoring Group, claiming 50 000 Nigerian observers, said the elections hadn’t been held in many of the country’s 36 states and had started very late in many others. “That’s why we’re calling for the cancellation of the entire exercise,” said Innocent Chukwuma, the chairman of the body.Turnout appeared low for Saturday’s presidential vote, which was marked by ballot-paper shortages in opposition strongholds, intimidation by thugs and open rigging favouring the ruling party of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.Neither of the two main opposition parties rejected the vote outright, saying they were waiting for full information from around the vast nation, but they described the exercise in disparaging terms.”Some voting has taken place, but there was no election,” said Abba Kyari, a spokesman for the party of General Muhammadu Buhari, considered one of the two top opposition candidates.A spokesman for the party of Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who fell out with Obasanjo last year and is contesting the presidency as an opposition candidate, said the party would very likely challenge the results in court.Saturday’s vote “could not be termed free and fair by any imagination.We believe a lot of rigging has been done,” said Lai Mohammed.Electoral officials weren’t immediately available for comment yesterday.Electoral Commission Chairman Maurice Iwu on Saturday acknowledged some problems with the vote, including in a large swathe of the country’s southeast, where voting started late or not at all.But he said the election had ‘gone smoothly, despite some problems’.Obasanjo on Saturday hailed the vote as a major step forward for democracy in Nigeria.Despite disorder and confusion at many voting centres, there were few immediate reports of the widespread violence that has plagued the electoral period, raising hopes that power can be transferred from one elected civilian president to another for the first time in the coup-prone 47-year history of Africa’s top oil producer.But an outright rejection of the election by the opposition could undermine any ruling party win, pitting large segments of the population against the other.Nigeria’s mass daily Vanguard newspaper reported that 16 policemen died during Saturday’s vote, including seven in a traffic accident.A week earlier, during a vote for state officers, the Nigerian papers reported up to 50 dead in violence.Nampa-AP”That’s why we’re calling for the cancellation of the entire exercise,” said Innocent Chukwuma, the chairman of the body.Turnout appeared low for Saturday’s presidential vote, which was marked by ballot-paper shortages in opposition strongholds, intimidation by thugs and open rigging favouring the ruling party of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.Neither of the two main opposition parties rejected the vote outright, saying they were waiting for full information from around the vast nation, but they described the exercise in disparaging terms.”Some voting has taken place, but there was no election,” said Abba Kyari, a spokesman for the party of General Muhammadu Buhari, considered one of the two top opposition candidates.A spokesman for the party of Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who fell out with Obasanjo last year and is contesting the presidency as an opposition candidate, said the party would very likely challenge the results in court.Saturday’s vote “could not be termed free and fair by any imagination.We believe a lot of rigging has been done,” said Lai Mohammed.Electoral officials weren’t immediately available for comment yesterday.Electoral Commission Chairman Maurice Iwu on Saturday acknowledged some problems with the vote, including in a large swathe of the country’s southeast, where voting started late or not at all.But he said the election had ‘gone smoothly, despite some problems’.Obasanjo on Saturday hailed the vote as a major step forward for democracy in Nigeria.Despite disorder and confusion at many voting centres, there were few immediate reports of the widespread violence that has plagued the electoral period, raising hopes that power can be transferred from one elected civilian president to another for the first time in the coup-prone 47-year history of Africa’s top oil producer.But an outright rejection of the election by the opposition could undermine any ruling party win, pitting large segments of the population against the other.Nigeria’s mass daily Vanguard newspaper reported that 16 policemen died during Saturday’s vote, including seven in a traffic accident.A week earlier, during a vote for state officers, the Nigerian papers reported up to 50 dead in violence.Nampa-AP