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INSIDE AFRICA
UNCP nominates Gen. Abacha as presidential candidate -GANI SAYS NOMINATION IS ROAD TO 'CHAOS, crisis....' by Chido Nwangwu The unfolding power-lay in Nigeria has taken a new, more fundamental turn with the largest and most influential party in Nigeria nominating military ruler Gen. Sani Abacha for president. The government-backed political party, United Nigeria Congress Party, UNCP, after altering its constitution, mobilizing the votes of their party delegates and voting unanimously for Abacha as their flag-bearer called a press conference to qualify their offfer. The UNCP said Abacha who has been governing Nigeria since November 1993 can carry the mantle of that party after resigning from the military. In a rather pregnant, loaded reflection on his party's decision, UNCP spokeman and secretary-general Gbazuagu N'Gbazuagu said: "we are talking about a transition to democracy.'' He the strongly added "We will not, I repeat, we will not support his (Abacha) being in uniform to contest'' the presidential election this August. Amidst all the flirtations and double-speak by the UNCP and other parties, how Gen. Abacha will treat and handle their offer and qualifier is not known, at this time. There has been some speculation that Abacha who promised to hand over power to a civilian government later this year, critics believe he has been deftly pulling the strings to maneuver his way back into power as a civilian. But Dele Akintunde, a member of the UNCP in Ibadan said if he gets into the seat of president, again, this time through the ballot box "it's all right with me." He argues that "Abacha has done an excellent work for our country and we support his continuing on that road." One of Abacha's severest critics, human rights activist and famous Lagos lawyer lawyer Gani Fawehinmi cautions the UNCP nomination of Abacha does not mean well for Nigeria: "This is an endorsement of chaos, crisis and instability for the country.'' In what apparently revealed the abbreviation of the UNCP's electoral procedure and constitution, USAfrica's reporter in Abuja Aliyu Uthman reports "the leadership of the UNCP had to find a way to make it legal for Gen. Abacha to run as their flag-bearer since the laws of the party allow only party members to run for any posts. They mobilized the votes in order to amend UNCP's constitution to allow the General to become their candidate." Reuters reporter in Nigeria and seasoned political reporter, Frank Aigbogun notes that "earlier this year (1998), the military leadership instructed Nigeria's five official political parties to hold national conventions this month to nominate Abacha for president." USAfrica's correspondents in Lagos and Abuja indicate that recently, some of the big wigs in the UNCP have been drifting to other smaller parties especially the only party of the five which did not nominate Abacha, the less influential Grassroots Democratic Movement, GDM. GDM h has nominated former police chief M.D Yusuf as its flag bearer, a candidacy dismissed as a misleading ruse by author and political gladiator Arthur Agwuncha Nwankwo of the Eastern Mandate Union who are opposed to Abacha running in the next elections as president. It will be recalled that he constitution drafting committee of Nigeria with representatives from all sections of the country arrived at a conclusion that Nigeria's southern region (below the Benue and Niger rivers) should "for the interest of equity and fairness" have the are produce the next civilian president of Nigeria. Of course with the parties all nominating Gen. Abacha, a Kanuri from the North East and domiciled in far Kano in the North central area of the country changes the entire geo-political equation. Remarkably, Abacha who is given to very little talk and more for decisive action has neither accepted the flirtations of Nigeria's politicians nor said anything directly about the possibility (some say inevitability) of succeeding himself in a different garb.
Chido Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of USAfrica Media Networks and
the first African-American all-financial information and business
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