Nigeria’s Current Articles & News from Sahara Reporters [May ‘11 Series]

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On April 16, 2011, Nigeria held its much-anticipated presidential election. It was won by the incumbent, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, whose party has been in power since the country returned to democracy in 1999.

Although the local media and international election observers have commended the election as relatively transparent and the result fair, leading opposition candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, insists that the process was rigged, citing as evidence results from the South-East and South-south zones of the country where recorded voters' turnout in the presidential elections doubled the national average.

The fall-out of the election has indeed brought to fore the challenge highlighted by Freedom House about "dominant-party states in which multi party systems exist on paper but genuine electoral competition is suppressed". This was the view reinforced by Paul Collier in the Wall Street Journal where he argued that it would take more than voting to bring about change in a continent where supporting institutions are lacking and where elections "have proved to be more decorative than functional, a veneer beneath which autocratic rule of the pre-1991 era continues."

By Olusegun Adeniyi
Source: Divided They Run, United They Lose : How Fractionalized Opposition Strengthens African Incumbents

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                                                                                                        Two weeks ago, Mr. Yoweri Museveni was inaugurated for the umpteenth time as Uganda's "president" amidst some of the most brutal suppression of modern times. These photos are  some of the collections of the sordid acts of brutality against the people of Uganda we could find.

Source: PHOTONEWS: Museveni Repression Of Ugandans

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AlJazeera exposes pay-to-ply journalism in Nigeria. Watch the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/v/pnpokmW_K0A?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0

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                                     Photonews@SaharaReporters, New York           UN Secretary General   Ban Ki Moon visits Nigeria's Maitama

General Hospital in Abuja  during his visit   to Nigeria.

Source: PHOTONEWS: UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon Visits Nigeria

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   By Benedict Okereke           Amid the post-election killings in the north of Nigeria, Presidential Goodluck Jonathan cautioned: “if anything at all, these acts of mayhem are sad reminders of the events which plunged our country into 30 months of an unfortunate civil war.”

Source: Nasir El-Rufai On President Jonathan's "Spectre Of Biafra": Matters Arising

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   By Joe Igbokwe           The Lagos State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria has condemned in strong terms, the arrest and detention of the Benue State candidate of the ACN in the last governorship election, Prof. Steve Ugbah. The party sees the arrest as the height of what is turning out a bloody and desperate attempt to put Ugbah, who most Benue citizens believe, won the last gubernatorial election in Benue out or circulation.

Source: Lagos ACN Condemn Ugbah's Arrest, Damns Police For Complicity

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Professor Steve Ugbah the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria was granted bail today  in Makurdi, Benue State.  Prof Ugbah was charged with 14 others before a Magistrate judge in the state capital.

Source: ACN Candidate Steve Ugbah Granted Bail

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   By Oguchi Nkwocha, MD.           In his self-serving, Buhari-is-best-and-almighty-savior-of-Nigeria interview published in various Nigerian media under such title as “El-rufai Passes Vote Of No Confidence On Jonathan, says Buhari Was The Best”, (http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-672172.0.html#msg8363287 ) in response to the just concluded elections in Nigeria, El Rufai’s opinion (to which he is of course entitled) and assertions are predictable, but also ill-informed and insensitive.

Source: Of Biafra, raising the specter, and El Rufai by Oguchi Nkwocha, MD

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                 By SaharaReporters, New York           Over the weekend at the New York Law School graduation ceremony, Nigerian lawyer, Mr. Francis Chukwu, delivered a spectacular speech as the voice of the Class of 2011. He was given the honor for his exemplary performance as a student and a member of the Law School community.

Source: Nigerian Lawyer, Francis Chukwu Dazzles NY Law School

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   By Adepoju Paul Olusegun            Since the first republic, Nigerian legislature has been passing bills ranging from serious national issues like national security to selfish laughable and unarguably comic ones like the one that apportioned a sizable portion of the national cake to political office holders’ wives.

Source: The National Health Bill Brouhaha