Africa News Digest
Nigerian Opposition Challenges Election Results
The Nigerian national legislative elections of April 12, and the Presidential and gubernatorial elections of April 19, were marked by massive vote fraud and intimidation, according to reports of electoral observers and opposition politicians of various political campsreports that are essentially in agreement.
According to the Nigerian Electoral Commission, President Olusegun Obasanjo received 24.5 million votes (62%) and his leading rival, Muhammadu Buhari, 12.7 million (32%), while the one-time leader of the Biafra secession, Odumegwu Ojukwu, received 1.3 million (3.3%). The earlier legislative election had a similarly unambiguous result, if the Electoral Commission were to be believed. In the contest for seats in the House of Representatives, the President's People's Democratic Party (PDP) garnered 181 seats, Buhari's All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) 82, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) 30, and other parties six seats. In the Senate, the outcome was 60 seats for the PDP, 26 for the ANPP, and five for the AD.
At a press conference, Buhari called it the worst fraud in Nigeria's history and demanded new elections. He announced that he would not recognize the results, and said all possible legal means would be exhausted to overturn them. A statement released by his party declared, "Any government that is formed on the basis of this so-called election will be illegitimate and we shall not recognize it. A fraudulent democracy is worse than a dictatorship." Above all, Buhari made clear that he and his adherents would pursue peaceful means for rectifying the election results, without resort to violence. The manipulation of the vote was especially pronounced in the southern and southeastern states. Ballot boxes were stuffed with ballots prepared in advance under the very eyes of officials of the Electoral Commission, and members of Obasanjo's PDP often voted more than once. In other cases, once the vote totals of individual wards were combined, the counts were changed at this higher level. This was possible because ward officials were not obliged to make their totals public. The police harassed ANPP activists massively, and hundreds were arrested as a means of intimidation.
Critics of the Nigerian elections can also invoke the reports of a number of international electoral observer organizations, including a delegation from the European Union and various U.S. delegations. The EU report of April 22 identifies serious irregularities and fraud in at least 11 of the 36 states. At least a quarter of the EU observers personally observed the commission of fraud, an EU press release stated. Especially outrageous was the fraud in Rivers State in the south. There, the victorious Obasanjo ostensibly received 96% of the votes of all registered voters, despite the fact that in some parts of the state no voting took place.
Is Nigeria Doomed?
President Obasanjo, the official winner, has so far appeared unmoved by the extensive criticism. On the contrary, he seemed happy to pour oil on the flames with his cynical remark that good politicians should be good sports and accept defeat in a spirit of generosity. In light of the poverty and misery of the Nigerian people, scarcely anyone could have thought of the election as a sports event.
There is reason to fear that political tensions could build dangerously as a result of such obvious electoral fraud. Buharia member of the Fulani-Hausa ethnic group from the northern city of Kaduna and, like Obasanjo, a retired generalheaded the military government of Nigeria from 1983 to 1985. In this election, he was the hope of the Muslim north. Electoral fraud as blatant as this, organized by the ruling PDP, whose candidate, Obasanjo, is a Christian from Yorubaland in the southwest, will inevitably intensify prevailing religious tensions between ethnic groups.
Certainly Nigerians' distrust of the election results is not going to go away, and it is not limited by religious or ethnic bias. Even before the election, it was clear that a section of Nigeria's political class had built a war chest of several hundred million dollars for Obasanjo and the PDP candidates. The millions it took just to assure Obasanjo's nomination as the PDP candidate, went into double digits, according to reliable allegations. What many Nigerians see as the real fraud of this election was the endeavorusing tried and true methods of political manipulationto preserve a regime that guarantees the continued shameless enrichment of its elite supporters, and the further impoverishment of the great mass of the population.
It is not surprising, therefore, that condemnation of the official results comes not only from Buhari, the runner-up, which one could ascribe to the frustration of the retired northern general over his defeat in the power struggle with Obasanjo. It also comes from the camp of those who, for decades, have demanded democratic constitutions and economic improvement and never stood a chance against Obasanjo or Buhari from the beginning. The well-known lawyer from Lagos, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, who stood as the Presidential candidate for the National Conscience Party, declared:
"Undoubtedly, our brand of democracy defies plain logic. It does not accommodate honesty and integrity. Everything about the 2003 elections is unnatural. If the results of the elections are a reflection of the votes of the electorate then they voted or were induced to vote for continuation of poverty, hunger, starvation, depressed economy, looting, corruption, low quality of life, weak currency, mass unemployment, insecurity of life and property, poverty, lack of water, epileptic electricity supply, and bad roads. That trend is abnormal. If the results do not reflect the votes cast, then the elections were massively rigged and grossly manipulated. Either way, ... this country is doomed."
President Obasanjo is extolled for having freely handed power over to a civilian government in 1979 after holding elections. Of course, it is largely overlooked that the 1979-83 civilian government, led by Shehu Shagari, constitutes one of the most infamous chapters in recent Nigerian history. The civilians of that government destroyed the economy so completely, that the ensuing military coup became inevitable. The manipulated elections of April 2003 suggest that a new disastrous chapter of rule by the raw power of Nigeria's political class has begun.
by Uwe Friesecke
Mbeki Planning State Visit to Germany
A state visit by South African President Thabo Mbeki to Germany later this year was discussed between the Foreign Ministers of South Africa and GermanyNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Joschka Fischerin Berlin April 24. A spokesman in the South African Department of Foreign Affairs said, "They exchanged views on strengthening and consolidating bilateral affairs between South Africa and Germany," and current international developments, especially in Africa, Iraq, and the Middle East generally.
|