U.S. report questions voting rights abuses in Nigeria

For the first time this year, the United States government is commenting openly about its disappointment with how certain 2007 election petitions are being settled in Nigeria without attention being paid to what it described as criminal activity during the polls.

In its current World Annual Report of Human Rights for 2007 released yesterday in Washington DC, the U.S. government submitted that in Nigeria "the government's human rights record remained poor, and government officials at all levels continued to commit serious abuses."

The greatest threat to liberty is "the abridgement of citizens' right to change their government, " according to the report presented to the press by Jonathan Farrar, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour at the State Department, the equivalent of Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Ministry.

According to the U.S. report: "Although it was widely accepted that the 2007 elections were fraudulent, most of the tribunals overturned elections based on technicalities such as not having the party logo on the ballot or not having the party name listed, rather than for criminal activity related to the elections."

The report noted that after the flawed 2007 polls, tribunals received over 1,250 legal motions filed across the country to overturn the results of individual elections for all levels of government posts, including the Presidency.

Read More...

Even over a week after the tribunals, people are still complaining over the results of the tribunal. The article, unlike some other ones, cites legitimate reasons for complaint, particularly in the full article. The elections were mainly overturned because of technicalies rather than large problems, denoting the desensitization of nigerian towards these large problems.

Grade This Post.

Nigerian Party Picks New Leader

The governing People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria has elected Vincent Ogbulafor as its new leader at a convention in the capital, Abuja.

Mr Ogbulafor is the party's former general secretary and is considered a compromise candidate, able to unite different factions of the party.

His election is seen as a setback for ex-leader Olusegun Obasanjo who was backing his own candidate.

The PDP won heavily in disputed 2007 polls and dominates national politics.

Read the full story here.

This article addresses the recent election of Vincent Ogbulafor to serve as the People's Democratic Party's leader in Nigeria. Ogbulafor is the former general secretary; he is viewed as a "compromise candidate" because he connects the different groups of the party. This "compromise" shows that the leaders of the dominant party in Nigeria are seeking to do what would be best for the nation which would be to put aside differences and find a common ground. The election of Ogbulafor was seen as a test of former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo's influence on the activities of the nation and its political parties. Obasanjo was backing one of his "allies," Sam Egwu, for this position, but Mr. Edwu was not selected. Many people in the People's Democratic Party are seeking to lower Obasanjo's influence on the goings-on in Nigeria. This shows that many of them are trying to move ahead, rather than staying in the same place they were the entire time Obasanjo was president. Alex Last believes that there was "a lot of backroom dealing before the result was announced" because of the corrupt nature of many of Nigerian leaders.

GRADE THIS POST

Dissent abroad over tribunal results

Shamsey Oloko

Nigerians abroad, many of who monitored the live delivery of the presidential tribunal's ruling yesterday via satellite television, the Internet and tele-conferencing, have expressed divergent opinions on it.

Former President of the U.S.-based Nigerian Lawyers Association and a New York-based lawyer, Shamsey Oloko, noted: "To accept this verdict as credible requires a willing suspension of disbelief.

Aluko added: "The Ogebe elevation saga, his absence from court, the unanimity of the ruling and all the rumours leading up to this judgment are all saddening. One would only hope that the Supreme Court would in some way redeem the newly battered image of the judiciary."

Similarly, Dr. Baba Adam, chairman, Pro-National Conference Organisations in the U.S. said it was a sad day for Nigeria, "rolling back the progress made by the judiciary over the last eight years."

Read more...

Although these are not the opinions of local Nigerians, this may be indicative of what those who do live in Nigeria think. Nigerians have been very patient to wait for this tribunal, hoping for a nullification of the election. Now that the election is final, will the people of Nigeria stay placated, or will they resort to violent or nonviolent protest?

Grade This Post.

Tribunal Sacks Orji, Orders Ugochukwu In

THE Abia State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Umuahia yesterday nullified the election of Governor Theodore Orji of the Progressive People's Alliance (PPA) and declared Chief Onyema Ugochukwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election in the state.

The tribunal based its decision on what it called Orji’s membership of the Ogwugwuakpu Secret Cult in Okija and his failure to resign his appointment as a public officer of Abia State before contesting the election. His deputy, Chief Chris Akomo, according to the tribunal also did not resign from public office before contesting the election. The tribunal said consequently, Orji did not qualify to contest the election.

The tribunal in the two judgement which lasted two hours, 45 minutes and read by the Chairman of the panel, Justice Abdullahi Yusuf, held that Orji did not come before the tribunal to refute the claims of the petitioner, the consequences of which were that the election of the first and second defendants ought to be nullified.

Read the full story here.

This article addresses the recent overturning of the decision of who would be governor of the Abia state. According to the article, Governor Theodore Orji was not "qualified to contest the election;" therefore, his winning was overturned, and Onyema Ugochukwu was declared the rightful winner. This decision shows the power that the government has to completely overturn the decision of who would be governor of a particular state. Also, this shows the corruption of Nigeria because the leaders are not always properly qualified but will still manage to do whatever it takes to win the election if that is what they want.

GRADE THIS POST

Nigerian Tribunal Upholds Yar'Adua's Victory

Ibadan, Nigeria -- A Nigerian tribunal Tuesday upheld the victory of President Umaru Yar'Adua in last year's presidential election, declaring him duly elected.

The tribunal, in a three-and-a-half hour judgment carried live on national radio and television, nullified all grounds brought against the election by Messrs. Buhari and Atiku and said Mr. Yar'Adua remained the elected president of Nigeria.

In their separate petitions, Messrs. Buhari and Abubakar had asked the tribunal to annul the result, alleging widespread fraud. They said the election wasn't conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2006 and urged the tribunal to nullify the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.

Local and international observers said the election was marred by vote-rigging, ballot stuffing, ballot-snatching and other irregularities.

Read More...

Inspite of many claims of illegitamacy, this nigerian tribunal has stated that the elections were valid, although there is much evidence of less than legal techniques used to obtain votes. From previous events, it seems that the Nigerian people will probably accept this decision without violence.

Grade this post

D-Day for Yar'Adua: Judge Dismisses Muhammadu Buhari's Petition

A Nigerian judge has dismissed one of two opposition petitions asking that President Umaru Yar'Adua's election in April last year be annulled.

Opposition candidate Gen Muhammadu Buhari had said the ballot did not take place in 29 of the 31 states.

A judge is still to rule on former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar's claim that the incumbent People's Democratic Party rigged the vote.

Read the full story here.

This article addresses the claims that the recent election that elected Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua was flawed because of the corrupt practices it was run. There have been two petitions stating that the election should be annulled because Yar'Adua won through unfair means. The claims of flawed elections show the corruption that have filled the nation since its beginning, and if the elections were rigged it can cause the Nigerian people to lose their trust in the government which can lower the legitimacy of Nigeria.

GRADE THIS POST

Kenyan lauds Nigerians for nonviolent elections

Note the happiness, not rioting after the previous election.

A former Kenyan parliamentarian and the owner of Club of Madrid, Prof. Ruth Oniango, has expressed satisfaction at the manner Nigerians conducted themselves in response to country's general elections in 2007.

Oniango said that despite the reported flaws in the elections, Nigerians did not resort to political violence, rather, they approached the rectification of the flaws peacefully.

"Professor Ruth Oniango, a former Kenyan parliamentarian, has saluted Nigerians for not finding recourse in violence in spite of some lapses that visited the April general elections.

"She remarked that, unlike in her native country of Kenya, where the head of the electoral commission could not announce who won the recent election in the country, it was heartwarming that Professor Maurice Iwu could announce the result of Nigeria's poll and wager publicly that the result of the elections reflected the intent of the voters.

Read More...

In the midst of all the criticism about flawed elections, corruption, and oil prices, someone has found something positive to talk about in Nigeria. However, the fact that the praise comes from someone whose democratic status is arguably in worse shape does somewhat dull the appeal. The absence of violence in the recent, likely flawed elections is proof the Nigeria is doing something good in its transition to democracy. Any display of legitimacy in a fledgling democracy like Nigeria is a good thing.

Grade This Post.

The Chairman of INEC Allegedly Lied Under Oath

Some ballot papers used for the April 21, 2007 presidential election were printed in South Africa, findings by THE PUNCH have revealed.

This contradicts the claim of the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, that the printing were solely handled by the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company at a cost of N7.7bn.

Iwu’s claim was contained in his affidavit in response to the 27 questions raised by the presidential candidate of the Action Congress, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on the conduct of the poll.

Read More...
In support of the accusations made by Buhari and Abubakar on the 24th, Punch newspaper has discovered that the ballots for the most recent election were indeed made at least partly by a South African company, but it has not been confirmed whether or not the ballot had serial numbers. The handling of the elections, however, was under the control of Obasanjo, and Yar’Adua may or may not have been at fault.
Grade This.

Yar'Adua Faces Court Over Alleged Fraudulent Elections

Since the election, denounced by some outside observers as the most fraudulent they had ever witnessed, over 1,200 petitions have been filed by the losing candidates in protest against the results. Almost all the successful petitions so far have alleged individual breaches of the electoral law, such as ballot papers with missing names. But more systematic crimes may have occurred, and indeed the first petitioner to prove wholesale malpractice on election day—many voters never even saw ballot papers—won his case last week against the governor of Enugu state. Those bringing the case against the president hope to do the same.

The former military president, Muhammadu Buhari, and the former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar, are leading the charge against Mr Yar'Adua—both lost to him in the presidential poll. They allege that the elections were a sham, that the country failed to produce a complete voters' register and that ballots lacked serial numbers (and were therefore impossible to track). Furthermore, Mr Abubakar says he was illegally excluded from the poll until the very last minute, preventing him from campaigning.

Read More...

Many people in Nigeria are claiming that the most recent elctions were fraudulent, and this is no surprise for a counry so recently Democratic as Nigeria. The recent change to Democracy would also make it easy for someone to denouce the elections as the "most fraudulent," because they have probably only witnessed three. In all seriousness, the claims over fraud are probably true to at least some degree, but whether anything will be done remains to be seen. Holding elections for a seceond time may prove difficult or impossible to accomplish.
Grade This.

Yar'Adua Not an Honest Man, Says Enahoro

Elder statesman and leader of Pro-National Conference Coalition(PRONACO), Anthony Enahoro, has dismissed with a wave of the hand President Umaru Yar’Adua’s much-flaunted credential as an honest man.

He also dismissed the current effort by the government to reform the nation’s Electoral Act, saying that "there is no way we can have a free and fair election under this present system." Enahoro made this position known during an interview with Sunday Independent.

He said if Yar’Adua was a sincere man he should long have resigned his position as President immediately he admitted the controversial election that brought him to power was indeed flawed.

"I was impressed when the President acknowledged in far away Germany, before the Western world and their press, that the process that brought him in was faulty. But I was expecting him to follow it up. He has not done anything so far and I am still waiting. I would have thought that an honest man should have resigned his post on the basis of that, but he did not do that; I am still waiting for what he will do about it."

Read the full story...

Enahoro, the elder statesman and leader of PRONACO, asserts that the flawed Nigerian presidential elections can not be fixed unless Yar'Adua gives up his presidency. Though he realized that the elections were flawed, Yar'Adua had no trouble accepting his new presidential position.

GRADE THIS POST