From: barnhart@gagme.chi.il.us (Mr Aaron Barnhart)
Subject: IPS: NIGERIA: SECOND ROUND PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES TO GO AHEAD
Originator: barnhart@gagme
Organization: Evanston, Illinois
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 12:17:24 GMT

Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: NIGERIA: SECOND ROUND PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES TO GO AHEAD


an inter press service feature

by toye olori

lagos, sep 18 (ips) -- as the second round of the rescheduled
presidential primaries takes place in 10 states of nigeria
saturday, results of the zone one of the primaries held last
weekend have been released, and are being contested.

with the mandatory one-third vote of the total votes cast in
five states, retired army gen shehu yar'adua is leading the
other 11 contestants in the social democratic party (sdp).

yar'adua, former chief of staff in the military regime
of gen olusegun obasanjo (1975-1979), is closely followed by olu
falae, a former finance minister in the present government of
gen ibrahim babangida.

umaru shinkarfi, former head of the national security
organisation, and former central bank governor adamu ciroma are
leading the other nine contestants in the national republican
convention (nrc).

the two aspirants each scored the mandatory one-third of the
total votes cast in three states.

a presidential candidate must have one-third of the votes
cast in 20 of nigeria's 30 states during the presidential
primaries to win the ticket of his party, according to the
electoral law on the primaries.

nigeria has been divided into three zones for the purpose of
the primaries. polls were held in the first zone sep. 12.

the voting pattern shows the leading contenders in both
parties have swept their home bases.

although the voting in first round appeared peaceful,
representatives of some of the aspirants cried foul as results
came out this week.

representatives of some nrc aspirants in the north-western
state of jigawa have rejected the results, alleging rigging.

aliyu tudun-wada, shinkafi's state coordinator, says
accreditation of eligible voters was not done before the
election and result sheets were filled at unauthorised venues by
the police and returning officer872s.

an nrc petition, signed also by representatives of other
aspirants in the state, alleges voters were imported from
neigh
bouring bauchi state, which is not among the states in zone
one. (more/ips)


nigeria: second (2)

chris elumuno, chair of the nrc electoral panel in jigawa
state, has called for peace. ''as far as i am concerned, the
election in jigawa state was free and fair as there were no
reports of malpractices from the security agents''.

allegations of malpractices have also been reported in the
eastern state of imo. emeka ojukwu, leader of secessionist
biafra which led to the 1966-1970 nigerian civil war, says the
votes purportedly scored in the state were already bargained for
before the voting.

the federal high court in abuja, the new federal capital,
has restrained the nrc from announcing the results of the
party's presidential primaries for kogi state following a
motion by some nrc aspirants over alleged malpractices during
the primaries in the state.

to ensure a free and fair membership authentication
exercise, the two parties have given guidelines in which
presidential aspirants found guilty of inducing registration
officers to go against the guidelines will be disqualified.

any nec official who contravenes the provision of the
guidelines is liable to dismissal from employment and handed
over to the police for prosecution.

political watchers here say the allegations of rigging
and malpractices are cooked up by aspirants with very low votes
and are not likely to make the primaries for the dec. 5
presidential election.

one such aspirant is arthur nzeribe, one of the 12 sdp
presidential candidates whose only strong showing is in his home
state, imo, and cross river state.

nzeribe has called for a ''consensus ticket'' in the sdp
before the end of the primaries if the party is to win the
presidential election. he insists the primaries are a waste of
effort and resources in the party's search for a presidential
candidate.

''none of the party's 12 aspirants will be able to win in
one-third of all the states in the federation as required by
the electoral regulation even if the primaries were cancelled
and repeated 10 times'', says nzeribe.

the winning pattern will not be different from the abortive
aug. 1 primaries. ''like the aug. 1, i will win in the eastern
zone, yar'adua in the northern zone and falae in the western
zone. none of us will be able to achieve the required 20 state
spread'', says nzeribe. (end/ips/to/apc/92)