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Aggo,

A good question. On Feb 15th when I raised my concern about the unfolding developments in Nigerian politics little did I know that my suspicions would become real considering what just happened with the recent elections. We may be right to blame others especially Western democracies for Africa's underdevelopment but when will we finally find the courage to call our own politicians to order when they fail us woefully. Let us all pray and hope that whatever comes out of the developments in Nigeria's recent elections does not set a trend.      

Thomas Adeetuk
College Library
Helen C. White Hall
600 N. Park Street
Madison, WI 53706
(608)263-3145



----- Original Message -----
From: Aggo Akyea <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, April 26, 2007 11:44 am
Subject: The Irony Called Olusegun Obasanjo ... ... Can the Judiciary Hold the Army at Bay
To: [log in to unmask]


> *****************************************************************
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>  Note: Fiscal year of AAM is October 1 - September 30.
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>  
>  
>  Betraying a Democratic Legacy 
>  
>  Editorial 
>  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/opinion
>  
>  Last Saturday’s presidential election should have marked a major 
> consolidation of democracy in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country 
> and biggest oil producer: the first free choice of one elected 
> civilian leader to succeed another. Instead, it was an ugly travesty — 
> not just procedurally flawed, but completely lacking in basic 
> democratic plausibility. 
>  
>  That, sadly, is the verdict of an impressive array of neutral 
> observers, including the United States State Department, the European 
> Union and Nigeria’s own Transition Monitoring Group. Election monitors 
> report that ballot boxes were stuffed and stolen, ballot papers 
> missing or late, and voters unable to mark their choices in private. 
> That capped a campaign marked by violence and intimidation and 
> government-inspired efforts to keep credible opposition figures off 
> the ballot illegally. 
>  
>  Nigerians are understandably angry and frustrated. But the last thing 
> the country needs now is yet another in its long line of military 
> saviors. It will now be up to Nigeria’s judiciary, beginning with the 
> special election tribunals, to try to repair as much of the damage as 
> possible. Nigeria’s courts have recently demonstrated a willingness to 
> stand up to government meddling. By tackling the post election 
> confusion swiftly and judiciously, they can help restore public 
> confidence and hold the military at bay. 
>  
>  Most of the blame for this disgrace goes to Nigeria’s outgoing 
> president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who tried to amend the Constitution to 
> be able to run for a third term and has since been willing to 
> manipulate Nigeria’s fragile democracy to keep his party in power. 
> What makes it all the more poignant is that Nigerians — and much of 
> the world — once admired Mr. Obasanjo precisely because he knew how to 
> exit from power wisely and gracefully, becoming the first of Nigeria’s 
> military rulers to organize an admirably democratic civilian 
> succession. 
>  
>  The quality of Nigerian democracy is not a theoretical issue. 
> Nigeria’s sharp ethnic and religious divides have been at the root of 
> decades of corruption, violence and dictatorship. Only a scrupulously 
> fair and transparent federal democracy offers any hope of steering 
> Nigeria on a healthy course. 
>  
>  Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
>  
>   
>  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
>  Aggo Akyea
>  http://akyea.tribalpages.com/
>  http://www.attamills2008.com/
>  
>  "Instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my 
> baskets, 
>  I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them."
>  WALDEN by Henry David Thoreau – 1854
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