Early results showed President Olusegun Obasanjo sweeping to victory in Nigeria’s presidential election last night, but opponents denounced the ballot as rigged.
With under half the votes counted, the incumbent appeared assured of a second four-year term at the helm of Africa’s most populous country.
Obasanjo was well ahead with 17,7 million votes, or 62 %, and his main challenger, Muhammudu Buhari, had 9,1 million votes, or 31 %. ”The figures so far suggest victory,” said the president’s deputy campaign director, Tony Anenih.
If confirmed, the result would seal the former military ruler’s reputation as the comeback kid of Africa’s largest democracy, retaining power despite a first term widely considered disappointing.
Opponents said his victory would constitute a masterclass in how to steal an election. Buhari’s All Nigeria Peoples party (ANPP) said fraud tainted last Saturday’s presidential poll and simultaneous ballot for 36 state governors.
A campaign spokesman, Sam Nda-Isaiah, said the party was rejecting the results: ”The entire so-called election is a huge joke. As far as we are concerned, democracy has failed.”
”We do not consider this to be an election by any stretch of the imagination. We are still watching the unfolding drama and if things continue like this, we will most certainly not accept the results,” said the statement from Nda-Isaiah
Journalists and international observers reported incidents of fraud, intimidation and corruption nation-wide, with the Niger Delta the biggest concern: despite an apparently successful boycott call by an opposition party, Obasanjo won a thumping endorsement on a huge turnout.
Appealing to people not to resort to violence, the election commission chairman, Abel Goubadia, said results would be voided if necessary. ”As far as we are concerned, (so far) there has been no rigging.”
Buhari is expected to decide today or tomorrow whether to keep a promise to mobilise ”mass action” in the event of fraud.
He denied that that was an incitement to violence, but the country’s mix of 120 million people is tense after an election which focused on ethnic and religious differences rather than poverty and corruption.
Obasanjo rallied fellow Christians and ethnic Yorubas while Buhari rallied fellow northern Muslims. Both were among the military rulers who dominated the country until the transition to a fragile democracy in 1999.
Police and army units patrolled potential flashpoints. In the central town Bakuru they fired tear gas and bullets in the air to disperse a crowd of pro-Buhari protesters.
Obasanjo’s People’s Democratic party (PDP) — a victor in recent parliamentary elections — also appeared to sweep the state governorships so strongly that some diplomats worried that the multi-party system could be undermined.
One diplomat thought the opposition might challenge the results in court but would not call street potests. ”It’d be too dangerous. Buhari has already overplayed his hand.” – Guardian Unlimited Â