NIGERIA

Reports on Ethnic Relations  /  Rapports sur les relations éthniques

The following section is consisted of part, full or summaries of articles from diverses sources (newspapers, newsletters, etc...).
La section suivante est constituée d'exraits, de la totalité ou de résumés d'articles provenant d'origines diverses (journaux,bulletins, etc..).

12 / 30 / 2002 

IRIN

The article: "Former Biafra leader to run for president"

Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who led a failed attempt at seccession by southeastern Nigeria more than 30 years ago, has been nominated presidential candidate by the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), the party's chairman said on Friday.

APGA Chairman Chekwas Okorie said Ojukwu was chosen as a “consensus candidate” after the screening of several aspirants.

In 1967, Ojukwu - then an army colonel - had declared southeastern Nigeria an independent republic called Biafra after a year of political crisis during which thousands of people from the southeast were subjected to pogroms in the north of the country. A 30-month civil war followed in which more than one million people died, mostly from starvation. It ended with Biafra’s surrender in 1970.

APGA, one of 30 political parties registered to contest next year’s general elections, has portrayed itself as defending southeastern interests. Its core programme, according to Okorie, is to seek devolution of power to Nigeria’s regions in a federal arrangement that would lead to a weaker centre.

Okorie said Ojukwu was the best choice to match the former military top brass likely to emerge as the candidates of leading political parties.

“The north has presented Gen Muhammadu Buhari as their candidate. The southwest has presented Gen Olusegun Obasanjo, we will present our own Gen Ojukwu from the southeast to match these generals,” he said.

The Article: "Former deputy governor arrested for minister’s murder"

A former deputy governor of southwest Nigeria’ s Osun State has been arrested for the murder last year of the country’s then minister of justice, police said on Friday.

The inspector general of police, Tafa Balogun, told a news conference that Iyiola Omisore, who was removed from office on 13 December, would face trial for the murder of Bola Ige. “Having been removed from the immunity that surrounds his office, we had to effect his arrest,” Balogun said.

Ige had been shot dead at his home in the southwestern city of Ibadan on 23 December last year just after he arrived for his Christmas vacation. Police said it was a case of political assassination. Suspicion fell on his opponents in a bitter political feud in his home state of Osun, including Omisore. Several people were arrested and charged, including a close relative of the former deputy governor.

Balogun said the arrest of Omisore was an indication of the readiness of the police to deal with the rising cases of political assassination in Nigeria ahead of elections in April-May 2002.

Among the unsolved cases are the 15 August killing of the chairman of the ruling People’s Democratic Party in Kwara State, central Nigeria, and the 29 August murder of a publisher and politician in Enugu State in the southeast. Others are the 1 September murder in the southeastern town of Onitsha of the local chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association and his wife, and the 24 September killing of the chairman of the newly registered United Nigeria People’s Party in the northern city of Kano. [ENDS]

"Man held after group claims responsibility for oil firm fire"

Nigeria's security police have detained a man for questioning after he claimed his organisation set fire to the Lagos offices of the state-owned oil company, his lawyer said on Friday.

Chris Nwokobia, who leads the previously unknown Youth Democratic Movement, allegedly called a number of media houses earlier in the week and said his group was responsible for a fire that razed the main office in Lagos of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on Tuesday.

The action was to protest misrule by President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration, he was reported as saying.

The fire, which started overnight, raged for 15 hours, sweeping through the 11 floors of the building as fire-fighters struggled to put it out. Obasanjo said vital documents related to the country's joint venture operations with several oil transnationals were destroyed in the blaze.

Nwokobia surrendered to the state security police on Wednesday, his lawyer, Festus Keyamo, said. "He was arrested when I handed him over to the Lagos State director of State Security Services," Keyamo said. "I urge the authorities to arraign him in a competent court for any offence he may have committed."

Obasanjo, who had ordered an immediate investigation into the fire, said on state radio on Saturday that while his government was ready to listen to the complaints of Nigerians it would not tolerate acts of terror by any individual or group.

"Arson is the height of irresponsibility and it will be dealt with as such," he said.

The Article: "New measures adopted to check cross-border arms flow"

President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Saturday his government had adopted new measures to stop the smuggling of arms into Nigeria from neighbouring countries.

He said the measures included improving border patrols, consulting with arms manufacturers and plans to deploy Nigerian customs officials in neighbouring countries with the consent of their governments.

“We are now collaborating with the countries that share borders with us, because arms importation will not be possible unless they come through our borders,” said Obasanjo, who was speaking on radio. “We are even posting our own border and police officials to deal with things from the other side.”

He said discussions were going on with neighbouring countries so that Nigerian customs officials would in due course be posted to their ports to inspect goods destined for Nigeria and ensure they did not include arms and ammunition. He also said consultations had also been initiated with international arms manufacturers to check the flow of weapons into the country.

Sizable weapons consignments have been impounded in recent months by Nigerian security officials on the borders with Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Obasanjo said the weapons were not only being delivered to criminals, but were also arming people involved in the ethnic and religious violence that has rocked the country in recent years.

12 / 23 / 2002 

IRIN

The article: "Election dates set"

General elections will be held in Nigeria between 12 April and 3 May 2003, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced on Friday.

INEC Chairman Abel Guobadia said the election of the federal parliament would take place on 12 April, to be followed on 19 April by the presidential poll and state governorship elections. The election of regional legislatures would be held on 3 May, he said.

INEC registered 30 political parties for the elections, the highest number since the presidential system was introduced in Nigeria in 1979. “With the possibility of 30 political parties fielding candidates for the elections, the commission feels it can handle no more than two separate elections at the same time,” Guobadia told a news conference in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

He said run-off polls would be held on 26 April if no definitive winner emerged in the presidential vote.

An electoral bill passed by the federal legislature had required all elections to be held on one day. INEC successfully challenged the requirement in the Supreme Court, which paved the way for it to present a staggered election schedule.

President Olusegun Obasanjo is seeking the endorsement of the ruling People’s Democratic Party for a second four-year term in office, but he is being challenged by a number of other contestants, including a former civilian vice president, Alex Ekwueme.

Next year’s vote is particularly important for Nigeria because no civilian government since independence in 1960 has conducted an electoral transition without being overthrown by the military.

12 / 20 / 2002 

IRIN

The Article: "Former vice president challenges Obasanjo"

Former Nigerian vice president Alex Ekwueme on Thursday declared his intention to challenge President Olusegun Obasanjo for the ruling party’s ticket in next year’s general elections.

Ekwueme, 70, told a news conference in Abuja that Obasanjo’s leadership style was divisive and he hoped to turn things around for Nigeria if he got the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) nomination and went on to win the presidency.

"For three and a half years of the present administration I have been troubled by the style of leadership, which has tended to divide rather than draw together and reconcile," he said. "I seek the presidency, therefore, to reconcile my countrymen with one another, to build new foundations for national unity in fellowship and peace."

Ekwueme, an architect, was the number two in Nigeria during the civilian rule of President Shehu Shagari between 1979 and 1983. After the government was toppled by the military he was detained and charged for corruption. But he was released after a military tribunal acquitted him.

During the rule of late dictator Gen. Sani Abacha in 1998, he led a group of 34 prominent Nigerians who challenged his moves to transform into a civilian president. After Abacha’s death the group was the nucleus of what became the PDP, with Ekwueme as the founding chairman.

He was considered the frontrunner for the presidency in the 1999 elections until Obasanjo emerged to upstage him in the PDP primaries.

Analysts expect him to offer a stronger challenge to the incumbent with the support of key powerbrokers from the country’s mainly Muslim north, who had backed Obasanjo but now feel disaffected by his rule.

12 / 19 / 2002 

IRIN

The Article: "Bauchi governor softens on stoning sentences"

The governor of Nigeria’s northern Bauchi State on Wednesday directed Islamic court judges not to press charges of adultery against divorced women who become pregnant unless their former husbands complained.

Under the controversial Islamic or Shari’ah legal system introduced by the state along with 11 others in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north, divorcees convicted of adultery face death by stoning.

But governor Adamu Mu’azu said on state radio a divorced woman who is pregnant within five years of separating from her husband could be bearing his child according to the Shari‘ah code. For this reason he said it was for the man to file a complaint if he thought the woman had committed adultery.

At least five people, including three women and two men have been sentenced to death by stoning under Shari’ah law in different parts of northern Nigeria since 12 states adopted the strict version of the law in the past two years.

None of the sentences has been carried out. President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government has declared them unconstitutional and pledged not to allow their execution.

Safiya Husseini, a 35-year-old divorced mother, who was the first to receive the stoning sentence, was acquitted by an appeal court in Sokoto State on 19 March.

Another woman, Amina Lawal, who was given the death sentence in Katsina State same day Husseini was acquitted, saw her verdict upheld by a higher court in August. This drew outrage from local human rights groups and the international community.

Two former lovers, a man and a woman, are also going through the appeal process in Niger State after getting the maximum sentence for adultery. A 54-year-old man in Jigawa State is also facing a similar sentence on a charge of raping a nine-year-old girl.

The application of Islamic law in Nigeria’s largely Muslim north has heightened tension with southern non-Muslims, mainly Christians and a minority followers of traditional faiths. Thousands of people have died in Africa’s most populous country of 120 million people in ethno-religious violence linked to the advent of strict Shari’ah in the past three years.

12 / 18 / 2002 

IRIN

The Article: "Electoral body okays two new parties"

Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday announced the registration of two additional political parties, bringing to 30 the number to contest next year’s general elections.

Abel Guobadia, chairman of INEC, told a news conference the Action Renaissance Party and the United Democratic Party had their registration delayed because they had not provided all the information required.

“These details have now been made available to us and we are happy to announce their registration and also congratulate them,” he said.

The two parties and twenty-two others recently registered by INEC, were also presented by Guobadia their certificates of registration authorising them to function as political parties.

INEC had called for fresh applications last month from political parties seeking registration after the Supreme Court had overruled as unconstitutional several conditions used by the body to deny 25 parties registration in June. All the five political parties that took legal action against INEC were registered in the latest exercise.

With the registration of the parties, the coming general elections will be contested by the highest number of political parties ever since Nigeria adopted the presidential system of government in 1979.

Only three political parties, the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party and Alliance for Democracy, were registered for the 1999 vote that ended more than 15 years of military rule in Africa’s most populous country.

12 / 17 / 2002 

IRIN

The article: "North-south split emerges over oil"

A regional split has emerged in Nigeria over a bill meant to pacify the country’s oil states, following a statement on Monday by governors from northern states expressing their opposition to the draft law.

President Olusegun Obasanjo had proposed the bill, which would entitle oil states - located in southern Nigeria’s Niger Delta area - to revenue from offshore petroleum exports. However, he refused to sign it into law after the legislature replaced the phrase “contiguous zone” with “continental shelf”.

In doing so the lawmakers extended each state’s maritime boundary from from 24 nautical miles offshore (contiguous zone) to 200 nautical miles offshore.

The bill was intended to end a dispute between the federal government and states in the Niger Delta following a Supreme Court ruling in April awarding control of offshore oil revenue to the central government.

Governors from 19 states in northern Nigeria said at the end of a meeting on Monday that they not only backed Obasanjo’s stand on the bill, but opposed to the entire draft. “While we support the action of the President for withholding his assent ... we reject the bill in its entirety,” the statement said. “The littoral states cannot claim exclusive right over what belongs to all Nigerians.”

The statement came on the heels of a similar declaration last week by a group of influential leaders known as the Kano Elders Forum, led by the emir (traditional ruler) of Kano, Ado Bayero.

Under the 1999 constitution, at least 13 percent of total oil revenue was to go to states in the impoverished oil region. However, on taking office, Obasanjo limited the allocation to 7.5 percent on the grounds that offshore oil belonged to the federal government.

Following objections by the affected states, the federal government last year filed a complaint at the Supreme Court, which ruled in its favour. However, the legal victory created serious political problems for Obasanjo in the Niger Delta, where he had scored a massive victory in 1999.

Governors from the nine states in the oil region on Saturday boycotted a meeting called by Obasanjo in Abuja to discuss ways out of the current impasse on the bill. They insisted that it should be signed into law before any discussions.

Governor James Ibori of Delta State, one of the oil states, told reporters on Monday he was disappointed with Obasanjo’s latest stand. “It is a longstanding issue... and we feel that having been resolved by the National Assembly, Mr President should have signed it into law.”

12 / 12 / 2002 

IRIN

The Article: "Amnesty protests against intimidation of activists"

Amnesty International expressed concern on Wednesday at what it described as the increasing intimidation of human rights advocates by Nigerian authorities. It said in a news release that the passports of three rights activists were confiscated last week by security forces at Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos. The activists were then interrogated for hours by agents of the State Security Service (SSS - the federal security agency), the human rights watchdog said.

"It is ironic that just a few days before the International Human Rights Day [10 December], human rights defenders are targeted and deprived of their basic rights," the organisation said. "The Nigerian government should return all the confiscated passports and cease any further harassment or intimidation of human rights defenders, as well as end a practice which violates the freedom of movement and the freedom of expression of Nigerians," it added.

The Amnesty release documented incidents involving the confiscation of passports and harassment of rights activists by the SSS since October. "President Obasanjo should take immediate measures to end disregard for international standards protecting human rights defenders," it said.

These standards include the Johannesburg Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in Africa of 1998, and the 1998 UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, it added.

12 / 11 / 2002 

IRIN

The Article: "Ruling party to choose flagbearer from south"

Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said on Tuesday it would choose its presidential candidate for next year’s general elections from the south of the country.

An official statement by the party secretariat said PDP would stick to the zoning principle which produced President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, despite indications from a number of members from the north they would vie for the party’s ticket. They include a onetime minister of communication, Abubakar Rimi and former PDP chairman, Barnabas Gemade.

"Anyone notwithstanding this, who wishes to embark on a wild goose chase, takes a gamble at the risk of his reputation," Yohanna Madaki, the party’s legal adviser, said in the statement.

The zoning arrangement adopted by the PDP was intended to redress a perceived imbalance whereby most of those who have ruled Nigeria since independence in 1960 have come from the predominantly Muslim north. A 1993 vote won by southwest businessman, Moshood Abiola, was annulled by the northern-dominated military plunging Nigeria into years of political crisis.

Obasanjo, a Christian from southwest Nigeria, has already indicated his intention to seek a second term in office. His main challenger is expected to be Alex Ekwueme, a former civilian vice president in the early 1980s from the southeast.

Ekwueme had lost the PDP nomination to Obasanjo in 1999. But some analysts expect him to present a stronger challenge at the party’s primaries in January, making the best of the disaffection with Obasanjo of key power brokers from the north who had supported him in the elections that ended more than 15 year’s of military rule more than three years ago.

A total of 28 political parties have been registered to contest the general elections scheduled to hold between 29 March and 29 April next year.

12 / 10 / 2002 

IRIN

The Article: "Police opposes moves to revive vigilante group"

Nigeria’s police authorities said on Monday they will not allow plans to resume the use of anti-crime vigilante groups in southeastern Anambra State.

Anambra State governor, Chinwoke Mbadinuju, last week announced the formation of a new vigilante outfit to be known as "ASMATA Boys", coined from the acronym of the Anambra State Markets Amalgamated Traders Association.

In 2000 Mbadinuju had set up the Anambra Vigilante Services, better known as the Bakassi Boys, who became renowned for their unorthodox methods, including summary execution of hundreds of suspected criminals by publicly decapitating them and setting them ablaze.

The group was disbanded by the police in September on the orders of President Olusegun Obasanjo after they were accused of targeting political opponents of the Anambra State government.

"This outfit (ASMATA Boys) will definitely be a parallel outfit to the police which is unconstitutional, as no other organisation shall be formed to perform the duties of the police," A.T. Gaya, Anambra police commissioner, said in a statement.

“No sectional or political security outfit, independent of police control and management shall be allowed in the state. Any such outfit will be dislodged with appropriate force,” he added.

A leading human rights group, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) also weighed in by expressing its opposition to the return of "monstrous vigilantism". CLO also accused Mbadinuju of manipulating the traders’ association for his own political ends by imposing a "handpicked" leadership on ASMATA.

12 / 06 / 2002 

IRIN

The article: "Christians won’t turn cheek for Muslims, says bishop"

The President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Sunday Mbang, said on Thursday Christians will in future retaliate for any acts of violence carried out by Muslim militants against their churches or members.

Mbang, who is also the bishop of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, said President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government failed to give Christians adequate protection during the sectarian violence that erupted last month in the northern city of Kaduna over the country’s hosting of the Miss World pageant.

More than 200 people were killed in four days of violence following Muslim fury at a Thisday newspaper article that suggested prophet Mohammed would have approved of the beauty contest and may have chose one the contestants for a wife.

CAN is the umbrella organisation of all Christian denominations in Nigeria.

"Nigerian Christians are completely disgusted with the seemingly insatiable desire by some misguided Muslim brothers to take lives and property at the slightest excuse," he said. "We no longer want to turn the other cheek."

Mbang said Christians will no longer "fold our arms while our brethren in any part of the country" are being attacked and killed.

The CAN position reflects a hardening of positions in the two main religious groups in the country of 120 million. The authorities in the pro-Muslim Zamfara State had declared a fatwa or death edict on Isioma Daniel, the Thisday reporter whose wrote the controversial article.

Nigeria has suffered spells of religious violence claiming thousands of lives since 12 states in the country’s predominantly Islamic north began to adopt the strict Shari’ah legal code in the past two years. Most Christians and non-Muslims, who are dominant in southern Nigeria, view the new legal codes as attempts at Islamisation of the whole country.

12 / 05 / 2002 

IRIN

The article: "NGO hails registration of parties"

An international human rights organisation, the Center for Research Education and Development of Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights (CREDO), has welcomed the registration of Nigerian political parties "with caution" and called for further political democratisation.

CREDO said in a press statement on Wednesday that while the 'registration' was an improvement on the past, it did not on its own mean that the political process in Nigeria has been democratised.

"The right to freedom of association cannot exist at the prerogative of the government. It is a constitutional and human right that must exist independent of any incumbent government. Association is also only one aspect of democracy. Genuine democracy means the full democratisation of, and guaranteed access to and participation in the entire political process," Rotimi Sankore, coordinator said.

He called for regulation of party funding. "This should place a ceiling on political party spending to ensure that the rich and powerful cannot purchase political office and power to the exclusion and detriment of the rights of Nigerians," Sankore said. "Party accounts must be open to public scrutiny. There must also be restrictions on individual and organisational donations to political parties to prevent parties becoming hostage to few wealthy backers. All donations over a certain amount must be made public, and donations beyond the means of contributors investigated."

The NGO called for equal access to the public and state-owned media during Nigeria's elections in 2003, adding that mechanisms to ensure editorial independence, and prevent state or public media from becoming mouthpieces of ruling parties must be firmly in place.

Nigeria’s electoral body said on Tuesday it had registered 22 new political parties, bringing to 28 the number to contest next year’s general elections. The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abel Guobadia said three out of 25 parties that had applied for registration failed to meet the revised guidelines issued by the body.

INEC had called for fresh applications from parties seeking registration after court overruled as unconstitutional several conditions used to deny the 25 parties registration in June. The registration means the 2003 elections will be contested by the highest number of parties ever since Nigeria adopted the presidential system of government in 1979.

12 / 04 / 2002 

IRIN

The Article: "CAMEROON-NIGERIA: Commission to visit Bakassi peninsula"

The UN-chaired commission that is trying to resolve the dispute between Cameroon and Nigeria over the Bakassi peninsula is to send an assessment mission to the peninsula, the UN reported on Wednesday.

The mission would visit the affected areas "in order to better understand and appreciate the practical problems it would have to deal with and resolve in the course of the implementation of its mandate," the UN quoted a joint communiqué adopted on Tuesday at the end of the first formal meeting of the "mixed commission" in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

It had also agreed to establish a sub-commission, comprising legal experts and cartographers from Nigeria, Cameroon and the United Nations, responsible for the demarcation of the land boundary between the two countries.

"The sub-commission is scheduled to meet before the end of next January to prepare a small-scale map indicating the boundary and to consider the nature and characteristics of the maps that need to be prepared for the demarcation...[it] also agreed to consider the assignment of UN military liaison officers in both countries at a later date," the UN said.

Chaired by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for West Africa, Ahmedou Ould-Adballah, the commission was formed after a ruling in October on Bakassi by the International Court of Justice, which gave the oil-rich peninsula to Cameroon.

Nigeria disputed the ruling, saying it did not consider "fundamental facts" about Nigerian inhabitants of the territory, whose "ancestral homes" had been adjudged to be in Cameroonian territory.

The Article: "Electoral body registers 22 new parties"

Nigeria’s electoral body said on Tuesday it had registered 22 new political parties, bringing to 28 the number to contest next year’s general elections.

Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC), Abel Guobadia, told a news conference in the capital Abuja that three out of 25 parties that had applied for registration failed to meet the revised guidelines issued by the body.

"The commission wishes to congratulate the new political parties for their success, and further wishes them good fortune," Guobadia said.

INEC had called for fresh applications last month from political parties seeking registration after the Supreme Court had overruled as unconstitutional several conditions used by the body to deny the 25 parties registration in June. All the five political parties that took legal action against INEC were registered in the latest exercise.

With the registration of the parties, the coming general elections will be contested by the highest number of political parties ever since Nigeria adopted the presidential system of government in 1979.

Only three political parties, the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party and Alliance for Democracy, were registered for the 1999 vote that ended more than 15 years of military rule in Africa’s most populous country.

Three new political parties, the All Progressive Grand Alliance, the United Nigeria People’s Party and the National Democratic Party, were granted registration by INEC in June.

Most of the new parties approved by the body on Tuesday are left-leaning. Among them is the National Conscience Party, led by radical lawyer Gani Fawehinmi, who had led the legal action against INEC and the Green Party, Nigeria’s first environmentalist political party.

The Article: "NIGERIA: Focus on campaign for single term presidency"

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

If the Nigerian Bar Association should have its way, elected political office holders in the country would not have the chance for a second term.

In letters to both chambers of parliament last month, the umbrella body for Nigerian lawyers canvassed an urgent amendment to the constitution to provide for a single, five-year presidency that would extend President Olusegun Obasanjo_s stay in office by one year.

Then last week an NBA delegation led by its president, Wole Olanipekun, met Obasanjo in his office and urged him not to run for a second term in the national interest. Once more it pressed the argument that the desperation of executives at the state and national levels to renew their tenure in office was "overheating the polity" and threatening democracy.

"Right now the atmosphere is charged everywhere," Olanipekun told Obasanjo, "The signs are frightening and horrifying, several Nigerians have been abducted, killed, slaughtered, maimed and harassed for reasons not unconnected with the second-term syndrome."

In addition to the president, all of Nigeria_s 36 state governors have indicated interest in having another go at the office they have occupied for the past three and half years.

With most intolerant of opposition, tension has been mounting in Africa_s most populous country of 120 million people ahead of general elections the electoral commission said would hold in March and April next year. There have been increasing cases of political violence, including political assassinations.

There are widespread fears the country ruled by the military for all but 13 years since 42 years of independence, might relapse to its old, undemocratic ways. Indeed the lawyers have not been alone in expressing concern for Nigeria_s democratic health.

Last month a group of prominent Nigerians, including top professionals and political leaders, known as The Patriots, issued a statement asking Obasanjo not to run in general elections due early next year in the interest of national peace and stability. The group had also urged the legislature to quickly amend the constitution to provide for a five year, single term presidency to be rotated among the country_s key geopolitical regions.

But so far Obasanjo has not indicated any likelihood he will heed the calls. Instead he told the NBA leaders their suggestion was "escapist".

"I just believe we should not run away from our problems," he declared. "If the constitution says I can be here for four years and have a second term, then that is the rule of the game. And it is not fair to change the rules mid-way into the game."

Whatever President Obasanjo opinions on the matter, it appears the campaign for a single term presidency have resonated with some of his powerful opponents. These now appear to have seen a constitutional route to ending his ambitions of having another shot at the presidency.

In what appeared to be a major political blow for the president early in November, the two main lobby groups in northern and southeastern Nigeria issued a joint statement urging him to give up his bid for re-election which they said was unpopular and raising political tension to dangerous levels.

The groups, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), which represents northern interests, and Ohaneze Ndigbo, which groups the political and business elite of the southeastern Igbo, comprise influential people who were instrumental to Obasanjo_s election in 1999 through massive votes he secured in both regions. This was at a time he performed very poorly in his southwest ethnic Yoruba homeland, where he was perceived as a stooge of northern political interests.

"What Nigeria needs now is leader who is dedicated to reviving the economy, one who respects the rule of law...one who is caring and sensitive to the yearnings of the downtrodden...a man who is a true democrat, amenable to advice and able to accommodate dissenting voices," they said in their joint statement.

"We are sad to conclude that President Obasanjo is not such a leader," they added.

Curiously, the pressures for single term presidency have coincided with the submission of the report of a joint committee of the legislature reviewing the Nigerian constitution. The committee had also proposed a five-year, single term for the presidency and the 36 governorships. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have promised to treat the committee_s recommendations with despatch.

Coincidentally, both legislative chambers, who had been bitterly opposed to Obasanjo and dangled an impeachment threat over him for months, now appear to be toning down their rhetoric. Some analysts see in this signs that new political calculations have started to emerge.

"It is not by chance that the legislators who had signalled their intention to impeach Obasanjo now appear to have softened their stance," Ike Onyekwere, a political analyst, told IRIN. "Impeachment was turning out to be politically too risky, a tool whose outcome could not be predicted for all involved."

He believes many of those who wanted to see off Obasanjo by impeachment now see an easier way out through the single term proposal, and would support a constitutional amendment to kill off his ambitions.

But this time they do not need only a two-thirds majority in the national assembly. Any amendment to the constitution requires also a positive vote by two-thirds of the country_s 36 state assemblies. This leaves a tedious political battle ahead with little time left before next year_s elections. [ENDS]

7 - RÉPUBLIQUE CENTRAFRICAINE: 6 000 habitants du nord-ouest ont un besoin urgent de secours, selon la Croix-Rouge

BANGUI, 2 décembre (IRIN) - Ayant fui les récents combats opposant les troupes gouvernementales aux rebelles, près de 6 000 habitants de la ville de Bossembélé, au nord-ouest de la République centrafricaine (RCA), ont cruellement et immédiatement besoin d'être secourus, a déclaré le secrétaire général de la Croix-Rouge centrafricaine, Patrice Yagenga.

"Une trentaine de maisons ont été incendiées et 80 pour cent des quelque 7 000 habitants de Bossembélé sont encore dans la brousse", a-t-il confié à IRIN, samedi à Bangui.

Il signale que ces gens ont encore peur de revenir dans leur ville, située à 157 km au nord-ouest de la capitale, Bangui. Les troupes gouvernementales, soutenues par les combattants rebelles du Mouvement de libération du Congo (MLC), de Jean-Pierre Bemba, ont chassé de Bossembélé la semaine dernière les rebelles centrafricains fidèles au général transfuge François Bozizé.

La Croix-Rouge centrafricaine a effectué une visite d'évaluation de trois heures à Bossembélé. Elle a alors distribué aux victimes des couvertures et articles ménagers, mais en quantités insuffisantes. M. Yazenga signale que la Croix-Rouge a fait appel aux donateurs pour pouvoir distribuer ces articles, ainsi que de la nourriture et des tentes.

Le Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) a jugé que le niveau insuffisant de sécurité prévalant dans cette zone l'empêchait de procéder à une évaluation complète des besoins de ses habitants. "Nous ne pouvons pas nous rendre au-delà de PK 22 [22 km au nord-est de Bangui]", a déclaré vendredi Albert Bango-Makoudou, chargé de programme au PAM.

Durant ce temps, une équipe nationale de crise, mise en place pour aider les victimes de viols commis durant les combats entre forces gouvernementales et rebelles, a amorcé ses travaux le 25 novembre, soit un mois après l'invasion de la capitale.

Cette équipe comprend un gynécologue, une avocate, un psychologue et un expert en communication. Elle a notamment commencé à contacter des partenaires nationaux et internationaux au nom des victimes de viols.

Des membres du MLC, un mouvement basé en République démocratique du Congo, auraient perpétré la plupart de ces viols. Même si le nombre des cas d'agressions sexuelles n'est pas connu, le président du comité de crise sur le viol, Sacko Wilibiro, déclare que "les premiers rapports, qui demeurent encore provisoires, révèlent que 100 femmes ont été violées". On compte parmi elles une vingtaine de cas particulièrement difficiles ayant nécessité des soins intensifs, a-t-il ajouté.

La "principale difficulté" rencontrée pour rassembler des statistiques précises sur les victimes de viols, réside dans le fait que les victimes, notamment les femmes musulmanes, refusent de divulguer les détails des épreuves qu'elles ont subies, explique-t-il. De son côté, la présidente du Bureau national des femmes musulmanes, Hadidja Sarah Nimaga, affirme que 30 des 140 musulmanes tchadiennes ayant fui les combats, ont été victimes de viols.