Quick hits on Nigerian politics - 24/12/2006

Some interesting links on Nigerian politics. The debate has heated up between the President Obasanjo and his cronies against the Vice-President Abubakar. Atiku Abubakar will run for the presidential election under the flag of the opposition party Action Congress (AC). Against him and among many others, we'll see Umaru Musa Yar'Adua running under the PDP colors (the party of Obasanjo). Abubakar was suspended from the PDP earlier this year and is under investigation for alleged corruptions charges. The last episode of this political soap occured when Nigeria's government has announced that President Olusegun Obasanjo is to replace Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. (via BBC). Regarding the presidential possibles we may have a ticket Yar'Adua-Jonathan running against a combo Abubakar-Duke. (via Reuters) "Nigerian ruling party presidential candidate Umaru Yar'Adua said on Sunday Goodluck Jonathan, governor of Bayelsa state in the oil-producing Niger Delta, would be his running mate in next year's elections."


Review of the Nigerian blogoshpere:
  • Chippla's blog featured an article on the succession of president Obasanjo nicely entitled "between the devil and the deep blue sea". "Unfortunately, while the death of the third term agenda [of Obasanjo] was a victory against sit-tight Nigerian rulers (democratic or otherwise), it was just one of two political evils Nigerians would have had to contend with. The second evil happened to be who eventually gets to succeed Mr. Obasanjo." [...]"Atiku Abubakar has been charged with corruption by Mr. Obasanjo's government (despite being the incumbent Vice President). While he hasn't denied all allegations brought against him, he has made it convincingly clear that Mr. Obasanjo is just as corrupt, if not even more corrupt than himself. A positive which one finds in Mr. Abubakar is his willingness to give in to new and reforming ideas. Also, Atiku Abubakar's role in quashing Mr. Obasanjo's third term bid must be commended, even though it was done chiefly to foster his (Abubakar's) presidential ambition. While this blog would most certainly not endorse an Abubakar presidency for Nigeria, when caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, Nigerians would be wise to choose the devil. The devil in this case is Atiku Abubakar and the deep blue sea is Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, the candidate chosen and anointed by Olusegun Obasanjo as his successor."
  • For Grandiose Parlor, the game is "twisted but fair". "All the Senate needs to do is ensure Atiku is allowed to run on any party platform he chooses without further harassment from the presidency. Let the Nigerian people judge if he’s fit to lead or not. [...]It is impartial to have OBJ go scot free while Atiku continues to face the music alone. Neither is it right to have a Sharia law enforcer (Yar A’dua) be the president and deputized by the spouse of a money launderer (Jonathan). Let’s level the playing field a little and let the people decide who leads. This how I see it, twisted but fair."

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