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Nigerian Opposition Candidates Complain About Meeting Place Restrictions

   Chinedu Offor | Washington  March 25, 2011
   he  entrance  of  a  park  in  front  of  posters  featuring Nigeria's
   opposition   leader  Mohammadu  Buhari  (R)  and  Nigeria's  President
   Goodluck Jonathan and his Vice President Namadi Sambo (L) in Kaduna on
   March 1, 2011

Photo: AFP

   Members  of  the  Party  Loyalists  drive their motocycles outside the
   entrance  of a park in front of posters featuring Nigeria's opposition
   leader  Mohammadu Buhari (R) and Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan
   and his Vice President Namadi Sambo (L) in Kaduna on March 1, 2011

   Nigerian  opposition parties say they're being denied access to public
   venues to hold rallies and other campaign events ahead of next monthâs
   election.

   Some  of  the  candidates running against incumbent PDP governors also
   say  they're not allowed to place adverts and programs on state media,
   which they call a ploy to deny them access to the public.

   But  PDP  officials  deny  the  charge.  They  say  the  opposition is
   frustrated  by  its  own  lack of a coherent message and is organizing
   violence against the party to score political points.

   Chief  Ike Ibe is the governorship candidate for the Social Democratic
   Mega  Party  for  the  southeastern state of Imo. He gives examples of
   what  he  calls  the  ruling partyâs plot to keep him from selling his
   programs to the electorate.

   âMost  of  us  in  the  opposition  parties  were not given freedom to
   campaign  or  get  our messages out, and most times we are not allowed
   the use of public places to campaign. Most times,â he says, âthey send
   their  people  to attack our event, remove our posters and destroy our
   billboards. This is not what democracy is all about.â

   The  ruling  party  says  thatâs not so. Paschal Bafyau, member of the
   Reach  out  and  Strategy  Committee of the Goodluck Jonathan campaign
   accuses the opposition of deliberately encouraging political violence.

   âI donât agree; that is really an unfortunate statement,â Ibe says.

   The  incumbent  governors should let the electorate decide who has the
   best policies, he says, by freeing their hold on the media.

   âEvery  side  has  a  message. The government in power might think the
   opposition  has  no  message,  and we are saying even if we donât have
   messages  that  the government likes, let them let the people hear our
   messages and decide,â says Ibe.

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