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LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s transition to
democratic rule reached a critical moment late
last month with elections for a president who is
to take power at the end of May. The voting was
marred by allegations of fraud and misconduct,
which the country’s news media were quick to
report in detail.
As such, the elections Feb. 27 — in which a
former military leader, Olusegun
Obasanjo, was declared the winner — represented another
important test for the re-emergent press in
Nigeria. As recently as nine months ago, at the
end of the brutal dictatorship of Gen. Sani
Abacha, the traditionally outspoken and aggressive
Nigeria news media were repressed and repeatedly
targeted in crackdowns.
Since Abacha’s death and his successor’s pledge to restore civilian
rule to Africa’s largest country, Nigeria’s news
media have returned to their searching, assertive
and even partisan ways.
The news coverage of the presidential elections
was comprehensive. The reports of vote-rigging
helped sensitize Nigerians to contradictions in
the political transition and the apparent
inclination of the military to make sure that one
of its own, Obasanjo, won power. Obasanjo ruled
Nigeria from 1976 to 1979 before yielding power to
an elected civilian government that was toppled at
the end of 1983.
The 1983 coup ushered in more than 15 years of
ruinous military rule in oil-rich Nigeria, a
period marked by a number of false starts in
restoring the country to civilian governance.
Obasanjo’s military background remains important
in the Nigerian political landscape, and the vote
fraud issue lingers as well.
The allegations were not without foundation. In
the northern states, particularly in Kaduna,
credible evidence of vote-rigging was produced. In
southern states, political pundits had predicted a
sizable vote against Obasanjo; even so, he won
millions of votes in those areas. By the time the
final results were announced, it was clear that
the figures had been tampered with.
Many Nigerians agree that there was electoral
fraud. The losing presidential candidate, Olu
Falae, is preparing to challenge the results in
court. The resentment against Obasanjo is quite
strong in the southwest of Nigeria, the heartland
of the Yoruba ethnic group. Both Obasanjo and
Falae are Yorubas, but Obasanjo is widely disliked
in the southwest for his ties to the traditionally
northern-dominated military.
Many observers are troubled that Obasanjo has
surrounded himself with aides and associates who
have military ties. This week Obasanjo said that
under his government Nigerian troops will remain
in Sierra Leone until peace is restored to that war-ravaged West
African state.
Still, there is a consensus that the march toward
democratic rule should be allowed to continue,
despite the flawed elections. And that, in turn,
means that the challenges for Nigeria’s news
media may be tougher than ever. The media are aware that
they not only must seek to hold accountable those
who soon will take power, but also not to gloss
over the unresolved issues of the past.
(Editor’s note: The writer is a journalist
for TheNews in Lagos. He was a Freedom
Forum International Journalist in Residence at New
York University in 1998.)
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