- Title: NIGERIA: Nigeria's elections "below international standards" say observers
- Date: 23rd April 2007
- Summary: RETIRED GENERAL MOHAMMADU BUHARI ARRIVING FOR INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) RETIRED GENERAL MOHAMMADU BUHARI, SAYING: "Well, there is a constitutional way out of it. This government has failed to organise credible elections. The National Assembly which is being recalled by the president of the Senate should organise either the impeachment of the president or the National Assembly should swear him in as the president on the 29th of April as interim president. And after three days when he too will cease to be president of the Senate, should call for the Chief of Justice to take over the country and then organise elections. This is the neatest and the constitutional way out. If it is not done then we do not know what will happen to this country". CUT AWAY OF HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) RETIRED GENERAL MOHAMMADU BUHARI, SAYING: "Because, clearly, there were no elections in more than half of the states. And in those states where there were elections, the local governments had no elections. It is been particularly difficult in places where the opposition has some strength. Either the material was not taken there totally or it was only partially taken, and definitely taken very late for the elections to take place. There was harassment by the police."
- Embargoed: 8th May 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Nigeria
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAEMEJC326L3C146K8EJWL0O6AV
- Story Text: Ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua looks set to win Nigeria's presidential election but international monitors have condemned the vote and its irregularities. Ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua looked set to win Nigeria's presidential poll on Monday (April 23).
But the election's been marred by violence and claims of irregularities.
In the northern town of Daura three people were killed and scores injured during protests.
The streets were calm on Sunday (April 22) but the scars are still visible. There are burnt out shops, and in the crowded hospital wards boys as young as fourteen were being treated for bullet or arrow wounds.
Jamene Mousa, a 70-year-old grandfather, was at the bedside of his grandson.
He was furious at the way the military and the police reacted to demonstrators opposed to the ruling party.
"I am too angry to express myself. The boy did nothing. He is innocent. He did nothing to the people who did this to him," he said.
The military ran street battles with protesters, most of whom support opposition party leader, Mohammadu Buhari, and who complained of a lack of ballot papers at the polling stations.
They rampaged through the town setting a couple of shops on fire, and fought police before the army arrived and opened fire on them.
International and local observers said the ballot for the first handover of power from one civilian leader to another in the vast oil-producer was deeply compromised by ballot-stuffing, violence and a shortage of millions of voting papers.
The IRI said the poll fell below acceptable standards and local observers from the Transition Monitoring Group said it must be annulled and run again.
"The system failed the Nigerian people," Pierre-Richard Prosper, from the International Republican Institute (IRI), said.
World leaders have expressed hopes in the past that Nigeria, West Africa's economic powerhouse, would emerge as a major force for the spread of democracy across the continent.
Rivers, the first state to publish its results, showed a landslide for Yar'Adua of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), President Olusegun Obasanjo's chosen successor as he stands down after serving two terms.
A definitive result is expected on Monday, when more international observers -- including a European Union team -- will deliver their verdicts.
Former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, the leading opposition candidate, said he would not accept the result and called on parliament to impeach Obasanjo.
Buhari reiterated that the elections were a fraud and that he would call upon his supporters, country wide, to protest should the ruling party emerge the winner.
Buhari ruled Nigeria for a short period after coming to power through a coup. He was also ousted in another military coup lead by his army chief Babangida.
Other Nigerian opposition leaders share Buhari's sentiments and plan to protest the results of Saturday's polls. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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