/ 13 April 2007

Nigeria curbs movement during elections

President Olusegun Obasanjo told Nigerians on Friday to limit their travel during election days and stay home at night to curb violence. Obasanjo accused ''highly placed individuals'' of fomenting trouble ahead of the vote, and an opposition party said several of its candidates and thousands of supporters had been detained.

President Olusegun Obasanjo told Nigerians on Friday to limit their travel during upcoming election days and stay home at night to curb violence and fraud.

Obasanjo accused ”highly placed individuals” of fomenting trouble ahead of the April 14 and 21 vote, and a leading opposition party said several of its candidates and thousands of supporters had been detained.

Dozens of people have been killed in sporadic political violence across Africa’s most populous nation in the months leading up to the polls, which have also been marked by poor preparations and confusion over candidates.

”On election day, movement should be restricted to only essential purposes,” Obasanjo said in a nationwide radio and television broadcast, vowing to crack down on troublemakers.

”During the election period, law abiding citizens are advised to avoid night travel and night movement except where absolutely necessary.”

Nigerians elect state authorities on Saturday and return to the polls a week later to choose a successor to Obasanjo, who must step down after serving two four-year terms.

Power transitions in Nigeria, where most people live in absolute poverty, often involve violence because elected office comes with control over a slice of the country’s $40-billion oil income and endemic corruption means much of this is looted.

Historic handover

If they go to plan, these elections will lead to the first handover by one elected leader to another since independence from Britain in 1960.

The opposition Action Congress party said thousands of its supporters and several candidates had been detained in five states across the country as part of a plot by Obasanjo and the ruling People’s Democratic Party.

”The mass arrests and detention of AC candidates and supporters is part of the grand design by the presidency and the PDP to rig Saturday elections even before they are held,” the party said in a statement.

Action Congress is one of two main opposition parties, but its presidential candidate, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, has been struck off the ballot because of an indictment for fraud which he is contesting in court.

Abubakar has said the elections are programmed to fail.

Obasanjo promised Nigerians a peaceful, free, fair and transparent election.

”It is a matter of great regret that some supposedly highly placed individuals have been reported to be fanning the embers of discord, hatred, violence and destruction,” Obasanjo said.

The ruling party has chosen a retiring state governor, Umaru Yar’Adua, as its presidential candidate. The main challenger is former army strongman Muhammadu Buhari for the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party.

Nigeria, the world’s eighth biggest oil exporter, returned to civilian rule with Obasanjo’s election in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous army rule.

Elections in 2003 that handed Obasanjo a second term were marred by widespread rigging, fighting and confusion over results. Obasanjo said only the Independent National Electoral Commission was allowed to release results and promised to ”deal with” anyone misinforming the public. – Reuters