Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a public holiday for Thursday and Friday, delaying a Supreme Court hearing of a case on whether Vice President Atiku Abubakar can stand in next week’s election.
Abubakar’s spokesman said the holiday was a “pre-emptive strike” against the Supreme Court which had been expected to start hearing the case on his exclusion from the list of candidates on Thursday.
“President Olusegun Obasanjo has declared Thursday and Friday as work-free days to enable people to travel in order to participate in gubernatorial and state House of Assembly elections,” the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
Nigerians vote for state governors and legislators on Saturday, with voting for the president and National Assembly a week later.
The vote should mark the first transition from one elected leader to another in Africa’s most populous nation but it has been fraught with uncertainty because of confusion over the candidates.
Dozens of mostly opposition candidates have been excluded, including Abubakar, who was picked as presidential candidate for the Action Congress party, because of indictments for fraud. Many have contested these in the courts.
The Supreme Court had been expected to hear evidence on Thursday in Abubakar’s appeal against a lower court ruling that empowered the electoral body to exclude candidates.
The public holiday means any outstanding cases relating to the governorship elections on April 14 are now redundant, and it gives even less time to the Supreme Court to deliver a ruling on Abubakar’s case.
Abubakar’s spokesman Garba Shehu said: “This is a pre-emptive strike to subvert the sitting of the court.”
“It is a holiday that nobody needs or planned for and is not necessary.”
With Abubakar’s candidacy still in doubt, the presidential vote is turning into a straight contest between Umaru Yar’Adua, a state governor standing for the ruling People’s Democratic Party, and Muhammadu Buhari, a former army ruler standing for the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party.