Confidence low as Nigeria votes

Nigerians head to the polls Saturday to elect a new president, just days after more than 21 people were killed in state elections.

from the April 20, 2007 edition

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Allegations of widespread fraud

This is a common sentiment across Nigeria, voiced by civil servants and traders, young and old alike. As results came in showing a near sweep for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in state and local elections this past Saturday, allegations of fraud and intimidation came from all quarters. In the state of Ondo, the opposition Labour Party called for the results to be cancelled; in southeastern Abia State, where an opposition party won the governorship, it was President Olusegun Obasanjo's PDP that called for cancellation.

In the capital, Abuja, opposition leaders gathered Wednesday and Thursday to decide whether to boycott this Saturday's presidential round or to unite under a single candidate to oppose the ruling party's candidate Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

"That is the one thing they won't do," says Iyke Ekeoma, special media adviser to Gov. Orji Kalu, an ethnic Ibo from the oil-rich southeast region. "Who would step down for the other guy? They all have the same ambition."

While international election observers say they have seen only minor irregularities, the week before the first round was full of intrigue.

Mr. Obasanjo called a national holiday to prevent his own vice president Atiku Abubakar from filing a final court appeal to overturn his expulsion from the voting list. The court eventually allowed Mr. Abubakar to run, but the confusion among voters about whether Abubakar is a candidate or not has led Abubakar's supporters to call for a boycott of the presidential election.

"It is a rotten process," says Garba Shehu, Abubakar's spokesman. "If all the voters came and voted for one guy, they still can defeat us. If you vote 50 million, he will vote 50 million and add 10 million more," though fraud.

For the ruling party, such comments are just what one expects from a sore loser.

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