NIGERIA: Daura residents optimistic that leader of main opposition, former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari, will win presidential elections

Record ID: 234777

  • Title: NIGERIA: Daura residents optimistic that leader of main opposition, former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari, will win presidential elections
  • Date: 16th April 2011
  • Summary: BOY DRINKING WATER FROM A KETTLE
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA58DC9LFZRAAFKIC6T75P7DJ5H
  • Story Text: Daura residents are optimistic that the leader of the main opposition, former military ruler General Muhammadu Buhari, will win Nigeria's presidential elections on Saturday (April 16).
    "This time around, elections in Nigeria will be free and fair Insha Allah, because we wish all election activities to be held in a good manner and free, credible elections, free, fair, credible elections. We are expecting this time around that General Muhammadu Buhari will win the election Insha Allah, by the will of God," said Aliou Mani, a Daura resident.
    Buhari, the main challenger to incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, has strong grass roots support in the north of Africa's most populous country and is considered a hometown hero in Daura.
    He ruled Nigeria between December 1983 and August 1985 with an iron-fisted administration best remembered for its "War on Indiscipline", a campaign against corruption in which politicians were jailed and drug traffickers executed.
    Many of his supporters want to see a return to the campaign that would deal with corrupt leaders in the West African nation.
    "Insha Allah, we are hoping, Insha Allah, General Muhammadu Buhari is going to win the election because he has done it before and he is coming to wipe all those corrupt leaders that they are now Insha Allah, that is our hope," said Kabir Jaffar, a Daura resident.
    The former military ruler has vowed to unseat Jonathan in the poll that will test the country's fledgling democracy.
    Jonathan, a southern Christian from the oil-producing Niger Delta, is the clear favourite in the election.
    The ruling party candidate has won every presidential race since the end of military rule 12 years ago, and polls in Nigerian newspapers have given him a substantial lead.
    But Buhari, a northern Muslim, is hugely popular in his home region and the opposition are hoping they can capitalise on weariness with the ruling party and force a run-off.
    Most of the northerners feel marginalised by the current southern-led government in the country.
    "Very poor, very, very poor performance because there is a lot of concern about money laundering and fraud, they have squandered the national, the country's resources for their own benefit and for the sake of their own people when we are all Nigerians and we belong to Nigeria, so is everything is for Nigerians not for some specific group of people," said Musa Deleko, a Daura resident.
    Jonathan, the first Nigerian head of state from the southern Niger Delta oil region, inherited the country's highest office after the death of predecessor Umaru Yar'Adua in May 2010.
    His candidacy is seen as controversial because of a pact in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) that power rotates every two terms between the country's mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south. Jonathan is a southerner, and Yar'Adua -- a northerner -- died part way through his first term.
    He beat strong rivals, such as Ibrahim Babangida, a former military ruler known to have strong financial backing; Bukola Saraki , a former PDP governor, credited with bringing white Zimbabwe farmers into the country and Abubakar Atiku, a former vice president under president Olusegun Obasanjo.
    Years of militant attacks on oil facilities have in the past hampered output from Africa's top crude producer, a key supplier to the United States, prompting spikes in global prices. But an amnesty 18 months ago brought fighters out from the creeks of the Niger Delta wetlands, halting significant sabotage attacks and helping Nigeria to boost and keep its oil production above 2 million barrels per day (bpd).
    Jonathan made restoring peace to the delta a top priority when he took over the country's leadership and being from the region, analysts say he had the trust of the rebels but it remains awash with arms and frustrated youths.
    Saturday's presidential election is expected to bring a high turnout to the country's 120,000 polling units.
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