World
  |
|
Nigeria's opposition calls mass protests next week against poll
By Claire Rosemberg
AFP
LAGOS
Petroleumworld.com 04 26 07A wide Nigerian opposition coalition on Wednesday urged Nigerians to take to the streets peacefully next week to force the cancellation of flawed elections, slammed by foreign and domestic monitors alike.
The call by the 20-party coalition for mass protests next Tuesday, as well as one by 16 civil society groups, came as Nigeria's powerful Catholic church and Human Rights Watch joined the chorus of criticism over the violence-marred elections.
"We are calling for massive protests but peaceful protests. May 1 should be the first day but there should be others," Ben Obi, the vice presidential candidate of the opposition Action Congress (AC) party, told journalists.
"We all know there was no election," said Farouk Aliu, of the All Nigerian People's Party (ANPP). "What we had was a contraption of the ruling party to perpetuate itself in power. We call on Nigerians to totally reject the results of the poll."
A coalition of 16 Nigerian civil society groups earlier urged protestors to don black armbands in mourning for lost democracy on May 1 and threatened more mass protest action, including civil disobedience.
Meanwhile, the US-based Human Rights Watch issued a scathing verdict on the elections -- won by ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua -- noting the late start, a shortage of ballot papers, widespread voter intimidation, the seizure of ballot boxes by thugs and vote buying.
"Instead of guaranteeing citizens basic right to vote freely, the Nigerian government and electoral officials actively colluded in the fraud and violence," the watchdog's Africa director Peter Takirambudde said in a statement.
"In other areas, officials closed their eyes to human rights abuses committed by supporters of the ruling party and others," Takirambudde said.
His remarks echoed those of Felix Alaba Job, the head of Nigeria's Catholic Bishops Conference, which represents some 30 million believers -- or one out of five people in Africa's most populous nation of 140 million.
Job cited massive fraud and disorganisation, including result sheets being passed around to politicians who simply filled in numbers, while bribed returning electoral officers looked away.
"We have again failed in conducting free, fair and credible elections," Job said.
The European Union, which like former colonial power Britain and the United States, was "deeply troubled" by voting irregularities, estimates at least 200 people died in Nigeria's two-stage state, governorship, presidential and parliamentary polls April 14 and 21.
And even outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose handpicked successor won the presidential election, has admitted the polls were far from perfect.
Yar'Adua's first act after being declared the poll winner, was to plead for peace and unity in a country with a history of severe violence.
"The contest has come and gone, so must our differences in the interest of the greater good," said Yar'Adua, who takes the helm May 29.
"I want all Nigerians to join hands and work hard in moving this country forward."
Asked to comment on the allegations of massive vote-rigging, Yar'Adua described Saturday's poll as "one of the best elections organised in Nigeria."
As fears of trouble helped push oil prices up to a three-week high on world markets, the Daily Sun headlined its edition "Shock, Anger".
But one Western diplomat said the harsh talk would die with a whimper.
"People will forget, and it'll soon be business as usual," he said.
Such appeared to be the case in Abuja, the capital, and in the country's blazingly hot and humid commercial centre Lagos, where there was the usual din of horns in traffic-choked streets and hawkers going about their business in a country where most people earn less than a dollar a day.
"There was a lot of fraud, yes, but as Christians we believe that the man God wants to be our leader will be our leader," said Harrison, a young supermarket assistant in Abuja.
AFP 25 1816 GMT 04 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels