Olusegun Obasanjo, chicken farmer?
Michael Harvey, from his post in Abu Dhabi, alerted me to an article in the Boston Globe about this possible competition to the American poultry industry. (Apologies for the silliness, but the image of Obasanjo retiring to a chicken farm brought it on.)Roy Greene, the Globe reporter does offer some interesting observations about the upcoming elections. None of them should be novel to your students once they've studied about Nigeria.
Election in Nigeria has US ramifications: Hopes are for first peaceful handover
"President Olusegun Obasanjo is clear about his plans after finishing his second term and overseeing the national election in April: He will retire to the pastoral life of a gentleman chicken farmer."But many in this chaotic West African nation of 132 million are not so confident that Obasanjo will fade quietly from the scene. They worry that the 69-year-old leader might seize upon any voting irregularities, on the rising strife in the volatile Niger Delta region, or on the risk of religious and ethnic clashes as a pretext to declare a state of emergency and cling to power.
"After all, Nigeria has been down that road before...
"On the eve of Obasanjo's scheduled departure, democracy is facing a crucial test in Nigeria, Africa's most-populous country and its largest oil producer. If he hands power to an elected successor, it will be the first such peaceful, constitutional transfer of power from one civilian government to another since Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960...
"One worry is that divisions in a country split roughly into the Muslim north and mainly Christian south, and among such ethnic groups as the Yoruba, Hausa, and Ibo, will boil over. Festus Okoye, a lawyer in Kaduna, the northern city that saw deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians in 2002 over a beauty contest held there, said he could not rule out election-related violence if Nigerians believe their will at the polls has been ignored...
"Western diplomats here credit Obasanjo with beginning to tackle the massive government corruption...
"He established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in 2003... Although critics accuse the agency of only going after Obasanjo's opponents, they concede that the fact that it even exists is a historic advance for Nigeria.
"Obasanjo also strengthened Nigeria's role as a regional leader... [and] Nigeria last year became the first African country to pay off it debts -- about $30 billion -- to the Paris Club, an informal group of creditor nations.
"But Obasanjo (pronounced o-BAS-in-jo) has faced criticism over a host of daunting problems that are resonating during the campaign, foremost the growing uprising in the Niger Delta in southeastern Nigeria, the center of the country's petroleum production...
"Meanwhile, the main candidates seeking to replace Obasanjo have hit the campaign trail. They are: Umaru Yar'Adua, the nominee from the ruling People's Democratic Party; Obasanjo's vice president and former supporter Atiku Abubakar; and Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator. All are Muslims from northern Nigeria..."
Labels: Nigeria politics
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:49 AM
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More news on presidential electioneering from the BBC:
Nigerian VP 'cannot be removed'
"An appeals court has ruled Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo did not have the power to sack his vice-president for joining an opposition party...
"'The president has no power under the constitution... to declare the office of the vice-president vacant,' Justice Umaru Abdullahi said in his ruling...
"The Court of Appeal decision means that Mr Abubakar cannot be arrested on corruption charges because it also means that he maintains constitutional immunity from prosecution.
"But the vice-president still has other legal hurdles to cross as he is also in court challenging the government panel reports that accused him of corruption, says the BBC News website's Senan Murray in Abuja."
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