Nigeria - The State Elections & The Aftermath.

In the April 14, 2007, elections for state lawmakers and governors, held a week before the presidential polls, the results showed a big victory for the ruling PDP. The new governors of the three key southern oil states of Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa were Emmanuel Uduaghan, Celestine Omehia and Timipre Sylva, respectively. Until weeks earlier, Sylva used to be a special assistant to then state minister for petroleum Edmund Daukoru. Later working together with Goodluck Jonathan, the former Bayelsa governor who in the following week was elected as vice-president under Yar'Adua, the three new regional leaders launched a joint plan to solve the delta's crisis.

At least 21 people were killed in the south on April 14-15 of that year. Nigeria's private daily newspapers reported that between 41 and 52 died. Most of the deaths on April 14 came in fights between supporters of rival political parties or during attempts to steal ballot boxes or otherwise skew the outcome of the vote. Opposition supporters burned buildings and barricaded election offices. Reports emerged of widespread intimidation, kidnapped election officers, stolen and stuffed ballot boxes, and fake results sheets. Previous elections had seen roughly similar levels of violence.

The chaotic April 14 elections presented a challenge for Nigeria before a crucial April 21 presidential vote. The electoral commission acknowledged some irregularities as it released partial results on April 15, saying the PDP had won 10 of 12 states announced by then. A main opposition party rejected the day's outcome. Lai Mohammed, a spokesman for the Action Congress party of then vice-president Atiku Abubakar, said: "Virtually everywhere, the elections were a sham. We are not going to accept these results".

Abubakar fell out with Obasanjo in 2006 after he helped quash a drive by the then president's supporters to amend the constitution. That was to allow a third elected term for Obasanjo. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Feb. 6 said more than 130 candidates running for the April 21 presidential election were unfit for office because of serious corruption allegations. The list included Abubakar, who by then had joined an alliance of opposition parties, the Action Congress. The list was only advisory and did not disqualify anyone from running; but the EFCC warned political parties that people on the list were subject to prosecution for graft.

Nigeria is consistently listed as one of the most corrupt countries in the world on Transparency International's index of corruption perception. During his tenure as president since 1999, Obasanjo had made fighting political corruption a centrepiece of his administration. But opponents of Obasanjo in April said he had used the fight against corruption as a way to go after political enemies, a charge he had repeatedly denied.

The EFCC had investigated politicians and government officials across the political spectrum, though some in the ruling PDP who had been investigated had feuded with Obasanjo. The list released on Feb. 6, 2007, included 82 candidates from opposition parties, and 53 candidates of the PDP. There were hundreds of candidates seeking seats in 36 state legislatures.

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