- Title: Nigeria: PreVIew To Forthcoming Nigerian Parliamentary Elections
- Date: 23rd April 1998
- Summary: Nigerian parliamentary elections on April 25 are the only chance for national representation left to voters after ruler General Sani Abacha side-stepped the need for a presidential vote. Since the main opposition grouping called for a boycott the elections for the new national assembly will be a key test of support for the military's much-criticised scheme to restore civilian rule. On April 20 Abacha secured the backing of all five parties to stand as sole candidate in presidential elections on August 1 and retain power. Opposition groups and parties who were denied registration condemned the presidential elections, as did western pro-democracy groups who say a one-horse race for Nigeria's top job does not conform with their ideas of democracy. Some members of the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) pulled out of the process. Akintoye Branco-Rhodes, Lagos State chairman of the GDM said he was withdrawing from the elections because his party's constitution was amended for military ruler General Sani Abacha to be nominated as presidential candidate. The Abacha programme for transition to democracy was a sham, Branco-Rhodes added. Olisa Agbakogba, President of Nigeria's United Action for Democracy, a coalition of 26 pro-democracy groups in Nigeria, dismissed the election as a sham. The exact powers of the new national assembly are not yet clear. The government is yet to release the new constitution to either politicians or the public. Signs of enthusiasm for politics in Africa's most populous nation are lukewarm at best. Low turnout for state assembly elections held in December 1997 was blamed on cynicism after the army's annulment of 1993 elections and grinding economic hardship which leaves no time for politics. Opposition to Abacha is strongest in the south-western homeland of millionaire businessman Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of 1993 elections who has been detained since 1994 for declaring himself president. Abacha is a northerner. The plight of Abiola and dozens of other political detainees worries Western countries and local human rights groups alike. A possibility of an extension of limited sanctions, imposed after the 1995 execution of minority rights activists Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni kinsmen, hangs over Nigeria if it fails to restore democracy this year. Abach died suddenly on June 8, 1998 before the elections could be held.
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- Location: NIGERIA LAGOS
- Reuters ID: LDL00128QNRCJ
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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