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Nigerian Presidential Vote 'Rigged,' Says Opposition Official

   Peter Clottey  May 09, 2011

Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS

   A Muslim woman prepares to vote during a gubernatorial election in
   Kaduna, Nigeria, Thursday, April 28, 2011. Two states in Nigeria's
   Muslim north voted Thursday for state gubernatorial candidates after
   their polls were delayed by violence that killed at least 500 last week
   after the oil-rich nation's presidential election. In the north of
   Nigeria, Muslims supporting an opposition candidate rioted when it
   became clear Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, would win.

   The general secretary of Nigeria's main opposition Congress for
   Progressive Change [CPC] says his party is legally challenging the
   outcome of the April 16 presidential elections, saying they were marred
   by 'irregularities.'

   Buba Galadima says his party can sufficiently document the alleged
   irregularities, which according to him, took place in both the north
   and the south.

   'We have more than enough evidence to prove that [there was rigging].
   It is left for the Nigeria judiciary to accept our view,' he says.

   The party, says Galadima, will dispel the popular view that the
   election was 'peaceful, credible and transparent.'

   The Congress for Progressive Change party is asking a court to throw
   out certain election results and order new polls in some areas.

   Galadima says his party will proceed with its legal challenge, despite
   the refusal of standard-dearer General Muhammadu Buhari to back the
   move.

   'We as a political party have the inherent jurisdiction to go to court
   on behalf of the membership of [this] political party in Nigeria,' says
   Galadima.

   President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria,
   defeated his northern Muslim rival, Buhari, who is a former military
   ruler.

   International and local observers have said last month's election was
   Nigeria's most credible vote in decades.
   But riots broke out after the vote, and a Nigerian rights group says at
   least 500 people were killed in Muslim-Christian fighting.

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