NIGERIA: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN

(20 Feb 1999) English/Nat
Legislative candidates across this Nigeria are engaged in last-minute campaigning as the country prepares to make its next-to-final step in its transition to civilian rule.
With presidential elections just a week away, Saturday's national assembly vote will show what support former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo - widely believed to be the presidential front-runner - will get.
Obasanjo's party, the Peoples Democratic Party, has won substantial victories in local and state elections over the past two months.
Nigeria, crippled by years of rampant corruption and widespread mismanagement, remains mired in poverty despite earning (b) billions of U-S dollars a year from oil revenue.
For years during General Sani Abacha's brutal regime the country had an abysmal human rights record.
Change, though, has come quickly since Abacha's death.
He was succeeded by a career soldier, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who vowed to return pride to Nigeria's
long-tainted military and to reinstate civilian rule.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with some 110 (m) million citizens, has been ruled by the military for all
but 10 years since independence from Britain in 1960.
The national assembly vote should be a good indicator of the level of support for the presidential ballot which will take place on February 27.
Former military ruler General Olusegun Obasanjo is the favourite to become president.
Obasanjo's party, the Peoples Democratic Party, has won substantial victories in local and state elections over the past two months.
But since those elections, Nigeria's two other parties, the Alliance for Democracy and the All Peoples Party, have
joined forces to field a joint candidate, former Finance Minister Olu Falae.
But it remains unclear whether that plan will give Falae an edge against Obasanjo who is the establishment's favoured candidate.
Obasanjo continued his campaign on Friday with a visit to Otta, a town 40 kilometres north of the capital Lagos.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"After I've given everybody a sense of belonging, feeling that they can call themselves Nigerian again no matter where they come from, the first thing I want to do is look at the economy, I will want to create a conducive environment for investment in this economy and that will mean dealing with the issue of corruption."
SUPER CAPTION: General Olusegun Obasanjo, Presidential candidate
Obasanjo assumed power when military ruler General Murtala Muhammed was assassinated in 1976 and made good on the military's promise to return the country to civilian rule in October 1979.
But he was later imprisoned during Abacha's rule.
Now is his chance to regain power and act on his manifesto of change.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Maybe we need a little bit of political auditing to make a change in this country, and indeed, in Africa."
SUPER CAPTION: General Olusegun Obasanjo, Presidential candidate
But Obasanjo's campaign has been helped by the political machinery, money and clout of the powerful northern military leaders who back him.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I'm not coming to be president to witch hunt and to chase individuals, I'm coming to be president of Nigeria to do what is good for Nigeria, and in doing what is good for Nigeria, if anything needs to be done will be done."
SUPER CAPTION: General Olusegun Obasanjo, Presidential candidate
Saturday's election are for 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 109 seats in the Senate.
Voters will have their registration checked between 8 a.m. (0700gmt) and 11 a.m. (1000gmt).
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...