The Hindu : Violence clouds Nigerian polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 20, 2003

International

International

Violence clouds Nigerian polls

LAGOS (Nigeria) april 19. The Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, is seeking a second term in elections on Saturday that pose the stiffest test for Nigeria's young democracy since his election four years ago ended 15 years of military rule.

Soldiers were deployed nationwide after the Opposition threatened violence if the ruling party uses fraud to win the poll.

The Election Commission appealed to voters to accept the results of the ballot for 36 governorships and the presidency ``in the name of democracy and peace''. ``Everything is being done to ensure that hitches do not occur,'' said Steve Oseneke, spokesman for the Commission.

Polls opened at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) and were due to close at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT), though delays were expected. The first results were due on Sunday. There were no immediate reports of violence as the voting started.

``I hope my countrymen will be able to vote and allow others to vote,'' said James Akerele, a 60-year-old civil engineer who waited to cast his ballot in a crowded urban slum of Lagos Island, Nigeria's coastal metropolis. Mr. Obasanjo, a former military ruler who transformed himself some years later into a civilian statesman, faces 19 challengers, including three other ex-army officers. His main rival, Muhammadu Buhari, repeated earlier threats of ``mass action'' — a term that in Nigeria generally refers to violent protests — if the ballot is rigged.

Casting his ballot in Sakin Yara, a village near Daura, in northern Nigeria, Gen. Buhari told supporters to launch ``a spontaneous reaction wherever fraud takes place.'' When asked to clarify, he added: ``I'm not inciting violence, I'm only asking people to exercise their civil rights.''

As a military officer, Gen. Buhari launched a coup in 1983 that toppled Nigeria's civilian ruler, Shehu Shagari, after elections that were generally derided as flawed.

Another presidential candidate, Emeka Ojukwu, a retired army officer who led Biafra rebels in Nigeria's devastating 1967-70 civil war, has urged peaceful demonstrations. But he warned they might turn violent if there is evidence of fraud.

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