Posted by by Ade Obisesan on
President Olusegun Obasanjo called for a crackdown on vote rigging ahead of Nigeria's landmark presidential election on Saturday after a campaign marked by violence and political turmoil.
President Olusegun Obasanjo called for a crackdown on vote rigging ahead of Nigeria's landmark presidential election on Saturday after a campaign marked by violence and political turmoil.
Africa's biggest oil producer has faced international calls to prevent election chaos and Obasanjo said in a nationwide broadcast on Friday: "The world is watching us and we cannot afford to disappoint ourselves, our friends and the world."
The election will provide Nigeria's first civilian-to-civilian power transfer since independence in 1960.
But at least 21 people were killed in election linked violence in the days after polls for state governors and assemblies last weekend. Obasanjo acknowledged that the vote had been "marred" by fraud.
There are 25 candidates for the presidency but three Muslims from northern Nigeria are the favourites: Umaru Yar'Adua of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who defected from the PDP to run as candidate for the opposition Action Congress, and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
Yar'Adua had emergency medical treatment in Germany last month, but health concerns aside, he is seen as holding the edge over his two main rivals.
Obasanjo said foreign election observers should not exaggerate the scope of electoral fraud in Africa's most populous country, which has an electorate of 61 million people.
"I appeal to our local and international observers to understand some of our limitations as a complex developing nation and not to exaggerate the negative and thereby throw out the baby with the bath water," Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo said efforts had been made to improve on the shortcomings of past elections.
He said last week's election was "marred" by fraud but insisted the "massive rigging" which has characterised past elections was on the decline.
"Let us continue to improve on the structure and the house rather than pull it down because it is leaking in part," he said.
"There is no perfect society but other societies identify their weaknesses and shortcomings and collectively make correction by strengthening the positive and eliminating the negative."
Obasanjo urged aggrieved candidates and their supporters to "explore all avenues for seeking redress rather than taking to jungle justice and running down the totality of our country and all it stands for."
On top of accusations of fraud and vote-rigging in last weekend's elections, at least 20 people were killed in election linked violence.
Troops also killed 25 suspected Islamic militants in the northern city of Kano on Wednesday, one day after an attack on a police station which left 12 police and one civilian dead.
Eighteen opposition parties had threatened a boycott of the election unless it was postponed until "transparency and fairness" could be guaranteed.
But Action Congress and the ANPP withdrew their threat on Thursday and the other parties quickly followed.
The elections are being keenly watched around the world because Nigeria is the world's sixth biggest oil exporter. The United States and European Union had both called on the opposition not to stage its threatened boycott while also calling on the government to take action to prevent voter fraud.
A total of 109 senators and 360 members of the lower house of parliament will also be elected across the country on Saturday.