NIGERIA: Obasanjo successor declared winner of Nigerian presidential election

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's chosen successor Umaru Yar'Adua was proclaimed the winner on Monday (April 23) of a presidential election that observers said was not credible and Obasanjo himself admitted was not perfect. The results of Saturday's (April 21) poll were announced at a news conference in the capital, Abuja. The head of the electoral commission said Yar'Adua of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) had won the election, with 24,638,063 votes against 6,605,299 for his nearest rival, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria People's Party. "I'd like to further affirm that Umaru Moussa Yar'Adua of PDP, having satisfied the requirements of the law, and scored the highest of votes, is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected," said Maurice Iwu, head of the electoral commission. The ballot for the first handover of power from one civilian leader to another in the vast oil producer was undermined by ballot-stuffing, violence and a shortage of millions of voting papers on Saturday. In a nationwide address, Obasanjo had said the election was not perfect, citing logistical failures, violence, theft of ballot boxes and fraud. He accused some political leaders of fomenting violence and employing thugs to achieve victory, but said Nigerians had shown faith in democracy. Max van den Berg, chief European Union observer, said in a statement: "These elections have not lived up to the hopes and expectations of the Nigerian people and the process cannot be considered to have been credible," said The EU observers called for urgent action over the election, but did not say if it should be cancelled and held again. A local coalition of civil society observers called for the cancellation of the vote to allow a re-run in Africa's most populous country, scarred by decades of corrupt dictatorship since independence from Britain in 1960. World leaders had expressed hopes that Nigeria, West Africa's economic powerhouse, would emerge as a major force for the spread of democracy across the continent. Obasanjo appealed to any aggrieved parties to use legal avenues to seek redress, adding that results so far did not deviate from projections. Obasanjo, whose election in 1999 returned Nigeria to democracy, must step down after failing to rewrite the constitution and stay on for a third term. Buhari, the leading opposition candidate, said he would not accept the result and called on parliament to impeach Obasanjo. About 65 people have been killed in violence related to both the presidential election and regional polls a week earlier in the world's eighth-largest oil exporter. World oil prices rose on Monday because of the fears of further violence.

ITN Source | April 23, 2007

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