Nigerian Court Upholds Obasanjo Poll Victory
April 6, 1999 - 0:0
ABUJA A Nigerian court on Monday upheld the presidential election victory of retired General Olusegun Obasanjo, rejecting a legal challenge by the losing candidate. The Abuja appeal court dismissed the challenge filed last month by former finance minister Olu Falae. I have come to the inevitable conclusion that this petition lacks merit ... and I hereby dismiss it in its entirety, presiding judge Dahiru Musdapher told the court.
None of the allegations made by Falae were proven and only feeble reference had been made to charges of voter fraud, Musdapher said. Obasanjo, who as a soldier ran Nigeria from 1976 to 1979, was last month declared the winner of the February 27 poll. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said he had won with more than 18 million votes to 11 million for Falae. Falae charged that Obasanjo was not eligible to run in the election and that the retired general had only won through monumental electoral fraud.
The former finance minister said last month that if his appeal were to be rejected he would take the case to the supreme court, the highest legal authority in Nigeria. His lawyers made no immediate comment as the ruling was being read out. Nigeria's outgoing military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar is due to hand over to the incoming president on May 29, ending more than 15 years of military rule in Africa's most populous country.
The case centred on accusations of fraud and ballot rigging by Obasanjo and his supporters in the centre-left Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Falae, who ran as joint candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and All Peoples Party (APP), claimed fraud had affected the results in 24 of Nigeria's 36 states. The electoral figures, almost double those of the last presidential elections in 1993, were grossly inflated, he said.
International observers of the February poll, the fourth and last in a series organised by INEC, admitted at the time that there were serious irregularities in many areas in the running of the election. But, most said, they were not sufficient to justify overturning the results. And a series of rulings in the case went against falae from the start of the hearing two weeks ago.
Falae was not allowed to question Obasanjo or the INEC chairman justice Ephraim Akpata and was restricted to introducing evidence on three of the 24 states. Obasanjo, who last week rejected all charges of impropriety in the poll, left Nigeria last month on a lengthy world tour to familiarise himself with world leaders. He visited several African countries, stopped in on London and Paris, New York and Washington, and is only expected back in Nigeria later this week.
Falae's challenge was seen as the last major hurdle for the transition to civilian rule here. Nigeria has been ruled by military regimes for all but 10 years since independence from Britain in 1960 and many in Nigeria, and outside it, want the election result accepted, even if fraud did take place, so as to ensure the military do quit as planned on May 29. (AFP)
None of the allegations made by Falae were proven and only feeble reference had been made to charges of voter fraud, Musdapher said. Obasanjo, who as a soldier ran Nigeria from 1976 to 1979, was last month declared the winner of the February 27 poll. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said he had won with more than 18 million votes to 11 million for Falae. Falae charged that Obasanjo was not eligible to run in the election and that the retired general had only won through monumental electoral fraud.
The former finance minister said last month that if his appeal were to be rejected he would take the case to the supreme court, the highest legal authority in Nigeria. His lawyers made no immediate comment as the ruling was being read out. Nigeria's outgoing military ruler General Abdulsalami Abubakar is due to hand over to the incoming president on May 29, ending more than 15 years of military rule in Africa's most populous country.
The case centred on accusations of fraud and ballot rigging by Obasanjo and his supporters in the centre-left Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Falae, who ran as joint candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and All Peoples Party (APP), claimed fraud had affected the results in 24 of Nigeria's 36 states. The electoral figures, almost double those of the last presidential elections in 1993, were grossly inflated, he said.
International observers of the February poll, the fourth and last in a series organised by INEC, admitted at the time that there were serious irregularities in many areas in the running of the election. But, most said, they were not sufficient to justify overturning the results. And a series of rulings in the case went against falae from the start of the hearing two weeks ago.
Falae was not allowed to question Obasanjo or the INEC chairman justice Ephraim Akpata and was restricted to introducing evidence on three of the 24 states. Obasanjo, who last week rejected all charges of impropriety in the poll, left Nigeria last month on a lengthy world tour to familiarise himself with world leaders. He visited several African countries, stopped in on London and Paris, New York and Washington, and is only expected back in Nigeria later this week.
Falae's challenge was seen as the last major hurdle for the transition to civilian rule here. Nigeria has been ruled by military regimes for all but 10 years since independence from Britain in 1960 and many in Nigeria, and outside it, want the election result accepted, even if fraud did take place, so as to ensure the military do quit as planned on May 29. (AFP)