Clerics urge peace after Nigeria voting

Christian Century, May 17, 2003

Incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo has been declared the winner of last month's presidential election in Nigeria, but his political rivals charged that the vote was rigged and refused to accept the results in the immediate aftermath of a contest that left the country's Christians and Muslims deeply divided.

Christian and Muslim leaders, however, urged Nigerians to accept the results and pleaded for restraint among their followers.

"Unless Nigerians tread the path to peace and love in their day-to-day dealings with each other, the country will face chaos and be destroyed," said Sunday Mbang, head of Nigeria's Methodist Church and president of the ecumenical Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in a message to churches.

Mbang, who is also chairperson of the World Methodist Council, said Nigeria is facing a difficult period, placing "great demand on all in the country to work sacrificially to checkmate the devil in his bid to plant the seed of disharmony amongst the people."

Obasanjo's victory was announced on April 22 by the electoral commission after long delays. "I place in God's Almighty hands my personal victory from last Saturday's presidential elections which has been formally declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission," said Obasanjo, a southern Christian, upon the announcement. According to the electoral commission, Obasanjo received 24.5 million votes against 12.7 million for his main rival, Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim, who represented the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

"Any government that is formed on the basis of this so-called election shall be illegitimate and we shall not recognize it," Buhari's ANPP said in a statement. "A fraudulent democracy is worse than a dictatorship."

In an editorial on April 22, the Christian Science Monitor said the "most worrisome aspect of the race, however, is that the vote counts show a wider split between the Muslim north and Christian south; Obasanjo, a Christian, needs to work on that problem, too."

Chief Commonwealth observer Salim Ahmed Salim issued a statement saying that in most places the election was credible, peaceful and orderly. But the European Union's chief observer, Max van den Berg, said: "The presidential and gubernatorial elections, in our view, were marred by serious irregularities and fraud. In a certain number of states, minimum standards for democratic elections were not met."--ENI