Nigerian President Obasanjo wins contested re-election

Jet, May 12, 2003

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo recently won his re-election bid by a landslide, albeit amid some accusations of rigged balloting.

Obasanjo, a former general, won 62 percent of the more than 42 million votes cast in the weekend polling. More than 2.5 million votes were declared invalid, the election commission said. Former junta leader Muhammadu Buhari was second with 32 percent. Eighteen other candidates split the other votes.

Though some 20 opposition parties issued a statement saying they "reject in totality" the election results, Obasanjo, in a televised address, dismissed the charges, calling the vote "peaceful, free and transparent."

"Good politicians should be really good sportsmen, showing magnanimity and humility in victory and gallantry and good-naturedness in defeat," he said. "I'm humbled by the fact that I'm the people's choice."

Nigeria, a country of 126 million people, has never seen a civilian government successfully hand over power to another. Though it is one of the world's largest oil exporters, it is desperately poor and has a history of coups and unrest.

Obasanjo is a former military ruler who traded in his uniform for traditional robes and ran for election in 1999. His victory ended 15 years of brutal military rule.