Nigerian leader faces test of unity

The five-story whitewashed building downtown is barely a month old. The air-conditioning is purring, the name plaques outside the offices are shiny, and the lounges smell of leather from the brand new couches.

But the place is deserted, except for the sound of a football match emanating from a TV down some corridor. This is President Olusegun Obasanjo's reelection campaign headquarters, and his team is taking it slowly, seemingly sure of victory next year.

General Obasanjo, the onetime military ruler who was democratically elected three years ago, announced in April that he would seek the nomination of his People's Democratic Party (PDP) and run for another term. The elections will be historic. Since independence from Britain in 1960, Nigeria has been rocked by one military coup after another and has never had successive elected governments.

"Democracy has been solidly established and no one wants to return to military rule," says Silva Opusunju, one of Obasanjo's top campaign coordinators. Mr. Opusunju admits, as does Obasanjo, that progress has been slow on many fronts, and the country still faces major social and economic challenges. But, he argues, "the right path has been taken. People are thankful for that and credit Obasanjo."

But critics say Obasanjo is on his way out, having not done enough to better the conditions of the nation's 125 million people, or to bridge the widening ethnic and religious divides.

Though no strong opposition candidate has emerged, on Saturday, three new parties officially registered for the poll. Two of the three are pushing Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the former military leader who ruled Nigeria from 1985 to 1993, to run. General Babangida is a northern Muslim who backed Obasanjo, a southern Christian, in 1999. But the relationship between the two has allegedly soured, reflecting a national religious rift. Some warn that no leader will be able to unite the differing sides, and Africa's most populous nation may descend into violence and fracture into several smaller nations.

In some ways, the path of democracy ushered in with Obasanjo has indeed benefited many. Human rights have improved, courts have become more independent, restraints on the media have been removed, and some economic privatization has taken place. Obasanjo has been broadly praised for his mediation and peacekeeping efforts in Zimbabwe, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, as well as for his role in helping design the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the pan-African development program due to be unveiled next month.

But in other ways, much is still the same. Accusations of government corruption and mismanagement – which sap this oil-producing country (the world's sixth-largest) of its wealth and keep an estimated 70 percent of the population under the poverty line – still persist, despite promises of reform. A majority of the population lacks access to clean water, consistent electricity, satisfactory education, or gainful employment.

"Perhaps we all expected too much of Obasanjo," says Kabiru Yusuf, editor in chief of the Weekly Trust newspaper. "We thought he might do more in terms of reforms for the people who elected him.... In regards to corruption, it's business as usual." For three years running, Nigeria has been ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International, a watchdog group.

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