Nigerian rights groups on Friday criticised the April 2007 timetable for presidential and parliamentary elections, saying the date was too close to the May 29 handover to a new government.
Nigeria’s electoral agency, INEC, had fixed April 11 and April 19 for governorship and presidential elections in the oil-rich west African country.
Nigerians were expected to choose a successor to President Olusegun Obasanjo who would step down at the expiration of his constitutional limit of two terms totalling eight years.
In a joint statement, the Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG) and Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER) said the timetable didn’t take account of any post-election complaints.
Africa’s most populous country
They said: “The period before the presidential elections and the May 29 handover date is just about one month.
“This does not anticipate natural problems that might arise immediately after the elections during which the judiciary and elections tribunals are expected to intervene in resolving potential election conflicts.”
The groups suggested an interval of at least two months between the polls and the May 29 handover date “to enable aggrieved parties to seek redress in the court of law before the swearing-in date of elected officers”.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of some 130 million people, had a poor record of free and fair elections.
Electoral malpractices
The elections in 1999 and 2003 were marred by widespread complaints by local and international observers of rigging and electoral malpractices.
A continuing process of voter registration in the country ahead of next year’s polls was already beset by thousands of complaints, which observers said were likely to undermine the proper conduct of the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Although the aim was to register all Nigerians aged 18 and over, it was unlikely that this goal would be met in view of the problems causing complaints.
They included inefficiency, the inadequacy of the electronic machines being used, lack of public awareness of the exercise and the slowness of officials operating the novel equipment.
The exercise, which began across the country last October 25, was scheduled to last for 40 days, but residents had begun to call for an extension so that it can reach majority of targeted Nigerians.