Nigeria's Obasanjo takes 2nd term oath; promises to do more
Special to USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
USAfricaonline.com,
The Black Business
Journal
May 29, 2003, Abuja &emdash; Promising to tackle his country's poverty and corruption, Nigeria's President, retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (and his deputy Atiku Abubakar) took the oath of office for a second term on Thursday &emdash; a landmark for civilian-run democracy in Africa's most populous nation. More than a dozen fellow African leaders watched as Obasanjo, in traditional white robes, raised his hand before an invitation-only crowd under tight security in Nigeria's capital.
He called his re-election an "affirmation our leadership is trustworthy" &emdash; after a first term widely acknowledged to have failed at curbing rampant corruption and violence. "We will draw on the lessons learned so far" to build "a great Nigeria," Mr. Obasanjo pledged.
Nigeria, an oil-rich nation of 120 million people, had never
managed a successful civilian-run presidential election. Military
coups foiled all previous attempts, sometimes weeks after the
vote.
Retired Gen. Obasanjo's 1999 election to a first term, in a military-run vote, ended 15 years of often brutal, corrupt military rule. He was declared winner of the election of April 19, in a vote that opposition candidates and many international organizations and the U.S. State department characterized as rigged and full of "electoral malfeasance." Courts are still considering a petition by Mr. Buhari's party and 19 others detailing allegations of election fraud, including alleged ballot-box stuffing by soldiers at a military barracks in southeastern Akwa Ibom state.
International observers reported many serious fraud cases, but none questioned the overall victory of Obasanjo, a southern Christian, over top rival Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim. Both men were themselves former military dictators.
Obasanjo, 66, said healing the wounds of the election is his first task &emdash; and acknowledged criticism of his job. "Four years ago, we had no illusion that we will put right in a few years the destruction of two decades" Mr. Obasanjo said. "We did not possess a magic wand with which to achieve instant transformation."
Marking Nigeria's prominence, leaders from more than a dozen African countries attended the ceremony, held in an open-air arena. U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige led a U.S. delegation.
Leaders settled into a curtained pavilion of bulletproof glass, before a crowd of Nigerian ex-military rulers, tribal chiefs, political party leaders and other VIPs.
The ceremony was filled with hours of pageantry. Children performed traditional dances. A 21-cannon salute outside the arena hailed the inauguration and Nigerian soldiers marched in precision drills.
In Kano, in the north, about 200 opposition supporters demonstrated in the street and burned tires but scattered when police arrived.
The inauguration's own program acknowledged the clouds over Mr. Obasanjo's swearing-in.
"He has the opportunity to mend the rough edges of his unprecedented victory," the program said, citing "clear evidence that he still has much to do."
Obasanjo's first term saw ordinary Nigerians make modest gains in individual freedoms, after the sweeping repression of military rule, but religious, ethnic and political violence has escalated.
"I want Obasanjo to tackle the poverty in Nigeria by improving the economy," said Ojo Hassan, a 20-year-old newspaper vendor in Lagos, Nigeria's crime-ridden commercial capital. "We're hungry, people lack shelter, there is killing everywhere and there is no security." USAfricaonline.com with AP reports
Why Chinua
Achebe, the Eagle on
the Iroko, is Africa's writer of the century.
By Chido Nwangwu
Lifestyle
Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard
of artistic excellence,
and more. By Douglas Killam
OIL
in NIGERIA: Liquid
Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse?
Elections in Nigeria more a
battle of the retired Generals, and votes buying
bazaar. By
Chido Nwangwu
Osama
bin-Laden's goons threaten Nigeria and Africa's
stability. By Chido Nwangwu
Nigeria,
a terrible beauty....
Why Bush should focus on
dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide. By Chido Nwangwu
How Obasanjo's
self-succession
charade
at his Ota Farm has
turned Nigeria to an 'Animal
Farm.' By
USAfricaonline.com contributor Prof. Mobolaji
Aluko
Abati's Revisionisms
and Distortions of history. By Obi Nwakanma, USAfrica
The Newspaper contributing editor and award-winning poet
Reuben Abati's
fallacies
on Nigeria's
history and secession. By Bayo
Arowolaju
How Abati, Adelaja and others fuel the
campaign
of hatred against Ndigbo. By Jonas Okwara
"Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists":
A response to Reuben Abati's
Igbophobia. By Josh Arinze,
USAfricaonline.com contributing editor.
Abati and other anti-Igbo
bigots in Nigeria. By Chuks
Iloegbunam, USAfricaonline.com contributing editor and
author of Ironsi
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises, Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Obasanjo's
own challenge is to imbibe "democratic spirit and
practice," By Prof. Ibiyinka Solarin
Is Obasanjo really
up to
Nigeria's
challenge and crises?
By USAfrica
The Newspaper editorial board member, attorney Ken Okorie.
This commentary appears courtesy of our related web
site, NigeriaCentral.com
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises,
Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Sharia-related
killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to
Nigeria-Biafra
war
of 1967. By
Chido Nwangwu.
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where he said that "Africa will not be an
area of priority" in his presidency has been
questioned by USAfricaonline.com Publisher
Chido Nwangwu. He
added that Bush's "pre-election position was neither
validated by the economic exchanges nor geo-strategic
interests of our two continents." These views were stated
during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior
analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday
November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside
Politics 2000.'
Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president.
By Al Johnson
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
TRIBUTE
A KING FOR
ALL TIMES:
Why Martin Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st century.
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
African-American diplomat who put principles above self for
Nigeria 
(USAfrica's
founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S.
embassy, Nigeria)
DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR
Out of
Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
ARINZE: Will he be
the FIRST
BLACK AFRICAN
POPE?
By Chido
Nwangwu
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
How far, how deep will Nigeria's human rights
commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
Apple, Steve Jobs extend digital
magic
Sex,
Women and (Hu)Woman
Rights. By Chika Unigwe
APPRECIATION
A young
father writes his One
year old son:
"If only my heart had a voice...."
Africa
suffers the scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a
five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the
Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October
26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the
sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
OPINION: 
Destruction
of property and human massacres are always traumatic
events in a community, saddening and enraging, but the
organizers of the beauty contest, as well as the
participants, must understand that they are totally free of
guilt. The guilty are the storm troopers of intolerance, the
manipulators of feeble-minded but murderous hordes of
fanaticism. The nation will mourn the dead and render aid to
the maimed and bereaved, but that same nation must
understand that it will itself join the graveyard of nations
if it fails to uphold the principles of plurality, choice
and tolerance. The phenomenon of intolerance is eating up a
world that can only survive on peaceful coexistence.
By Prof. Wole Soyinka
Debating
Obasanjo's
record
toward Nigeria's South East and South-South. By Pini
Jason
DEMOCRACY
DEBATE
CNN
International debate on Nigeria's democracy livecast on CNN.
It involved Nigeria's Information Minister Prof. Jerry
Gana, Prof. Salih Booker and USAfricaonline.com Publisher
Chido Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on
the CNN International site.
NEWS
5 students from Nigeria at Abilene Christian
University killed in March 31, 2002 one-car
accident.18 year-old Kolawole Oluwagbemiga Sami
was identified as the driver of the Isuzu which had 2 other
men and 3 women. One of those female passengers in the 1994
Isuzu Rodeo SUV had an identification card stating her as
Iyadunni Oluwaseun Bakare. She is also 18 years old.
USAfricaonline.com special report by Chido Nwangwu
USAfrica The
Newspaper voted the "Best Community
Newspaper"
in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston. It is in
the Best of Houston 2001 special as chosen by the editors
and readers of the Houston
Press,
reflecting their poll and annual rankings.
Tragedy of Ige's murder
is its déjà vu for the Yoruba
southwest and rest of
Nigeria. By Ken Okorie
What has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido Nwangwu
Should Africa debates begin and
end at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
NEWS INSIGHT
CNN,
Obasanjo and Nigeria's struggles with democracy.
Why Obasanjo's government should respect
CNN
and Freedom of the press
in Nigeria.
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers
Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are Keys to prosperity in Africa
What
has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido
Nwangwu
Africans
reported
dead
in terrorist
attack at
WTC
September
11
terror and
the ghost of things to
come....
Will
religious conflicts be the time-bomb
for Nigeria's latest transition to civilian rule?
Bola
Ige's murder another danger signal for
Nigeria's nascent democracy.
In a special report a few hours after the
history-making nomination, USAfricaonline.com
Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the
trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and
relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin
Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.'
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS
Beyond U.S.
electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic
republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game