Abacha clears hurdle for presidential polls

Abacha clears hurdle for presidential polls

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters): Nigerian military ruler Gen.
Sani Abacha won a crucial party vote yesterday which means he
will face no opponent in presidential elections planned for Aug.
1.

The Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM), at a ballot in the
north-eastern town of Maiduguri, became the fifth of five parties
to adopt Abacha when he won 1,368 votes against 408 for former
police chief Mohammed Yusufu.

Armed riot police were called in to quell shouts of "We don't
want cheating. We don't want Abacha" from angry Yusufu supporters
that Abacha, who was not a member of the GDM, could be considered
as the party's presidential candidate.

"I am a winner always, but in this case I am out," Yusufu,
clearly unhappy, told reporters after the vote.

Lagos lawyer Tunji Braithwaite withdrew after the party's
constitution was modified to accommodate Abacha, while a third
contender failed to secure nomination.

Abacha's victory is bound to intensify cries of foul from
local opposition and democracy groups which already dismiss the
transition plan for restoring democracy to the oil-producing
country of at least 104 million.

Western countries have hung the threat of a possible extension
of mild sanctions over Nigeria unless a semblance of democracy is
restored this year.

Abacha, 54, has not yet said he will contest the poll but a
vast campaign on his behalf has left few Nigerians in doubt that
he hopes to move from military to civilian rule as most of his
fellow West African rulers have done.

The Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) charged with
overseeing the path to democracy said the Aug. 1 vote would most
likely be held as a referendum on Abacha's candidacy.

"We should wait to know what the electoral law says," Khalifa
Hassan Yusuf of the TIC told Reuters. "The natural option would
be a referendum at which people will be allowed to vote either
for or against."

The plan to restore civilian rule has come under fire from
local democracy campaigners and supporters of detained
presidential claimant Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of the
last presidential poll, annulled by the army in 1993.

Western countries are also skeptical of Abacha's democratic
credentials and demand the release of dozens of political
detainees including Abiola, who was arrested in 1994 for
declaring himself president.