POLITICS-NIGERIA: Threat to Disrupt President Obasanjo’s Inauguration

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, May 26 2003 (IPS) - As Africa’s most populous nation prepares for the inauguration of President Olusegun Obasanjo this week, a coalition of political parties is threatening to hold mass demonstrations to coincide with the event.

Obasanjo will be sworn-in in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Thursday amidst claims by some political parties that the results of the Apr. 19 elections were rigged in favour of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

In a nation-wide broadcast last week, Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, warned that the protestors, including the organisers, would be arrested and persecuted.

”Some persons are planning massive anti-government demonstrations to ensure that May 29 inauguration is not realised. Some youths have been mobilised and are currently being trained for the purpose of using them to cause mayhem and confusion on a date to be chosen later,” said Balogun.

More than 47 heads of state, mostly from Africa, are expected to attend the inauguration ceremony in Abuja, according to government sources.

The Eagle Square, the venue of the inauguration, is already wearing a new look, following painting and decoration work.

To prepare for the inauguration, president Obasanjo has dissolved his 47-member cabinet and thanked them for "a job well done during the last four years".

"As members of this apex ‘Federal Executive Council (FEC)’ decision-making body, you all have been at the heart of progress, good governance and the consolidation of democracy in the last four years. In the areas where this administration can largely claim success over the last four years, FEC has been the source of key decisions that have moved this country forward," Obasanjo told the out-going ministers on May 21.

The new cabinet, Obasanjo said, would be trimmed, with a minister representing each of the country’s 36 states in addition to one from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Critics have described the out-going cabinet as bloated and have called for a reduction.

Political analysts say the planned demonstrations do not bode well for 66-year-old Obasanjo as he prepares for his second term. They say the protest could give the impression to the international community that all is not well in Nigeria.

Most local and foreign observers have described the Apr. 19 presidential polls as "generally peaceful".

However, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), a body representing the opposition parties, has alleged massive rigging in some states during the polls. As a result, Obasanjo’s main rivals, Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) and Odumegwu Ojukwu, of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), are planning a mass protest.

Buhari and Ojukwu have both filed separate suits in the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge the results of the presidential elections in Nigeria’s 21 states, where they alleged elections had not taken place.

The APGA was also rumoured to be planning to set up a parallel government and install Ojukwu as president come May 29. But the party’s chairperson, Chekwas Okorie told journalists last week that Ojukwu, who led the 1966-1970 failed secessionist move to establish an independent state, called the Republic of Biafra, in eastern Nigeria, is a democrat who would always use legal channels to air his grievances.

The demonstrations will take place in Nigeria’s major cities; Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and Enugu.

In a statement last week, the National Conscience party, of Nigeria’s outspoken human rights activist, Gani Fawehinmi, said: ”Nigerians who legitimately feel obliged to demonstrate their abhorrence of the last general elections should go ahead and protest and ignore the insensitive and undemocratic outbursts of the Inspector General of Police”.

Balarabe Musa, presidential candidate for the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), said "the mass action is merely an organised resistance to injustice".

”The people are merely protesting the conduct of the just concluded general elections which were marred by fraud and irregularities and there is nothing illegal about the action,” he said.

Kenny Martins, of the National Democratic Party (NDP), said: "protests, rallies and all forms of peaceful demonstrations are internationally accepted as a means of protesting infringement on the rights of the people."

Even so, there are fears that the mass actions could be hijacked by thugs who could cause mayhem, loot and steal from innocent Nigerians.