ABUJA (Reuters) - A Nigerian tribunal on Tuesday (February 26, 2008) rejected opposition demands for a re-run of last year's presidential election, averting a political crisis in Africa's most populous nation.

Umaru Yar'Adua won a landslide victory, but local and international observers said vote-rigging was so rampant that the results were "not credible". A special five-judge tribunal rejected legal challenges filed by the two main opposition candidates, former army ruler Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

"Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan remain the president and vice-president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria," said Judge John Fabiyi at the conclusion of a ruling that took more than three hours to deliver.

Major oil exporter Nigeria, a chaotic country of 140 million people, emerged just nine years ago from decades of coups and army rule. Many politicians had feared that instability would return if Yar'Adua's election was annulled.

The two challengers immediately said they would appeal to the Supreme Court. This could take several more months. "For us, we have come to the semi-final," Buhari told reporters immediately after the ruling.

The odds for the Supreme Court decision appear heavily stacked in favor of Yar'Adua after the tribunal rejected every single one of the challengers' points.

It said Buhari had failed to prove that violations of the electoral law were substantial enough to invalidate Yar'Adua's victory. It ruled that Abubakar had not been excluded from the poll, as he had alleged, but rather had participated actively.

DISAPPOINTING

"It is a very disappointing judgment," said Innocent Chukwuma, head of the homegrown Transition Monitoring Group.

"We had expected the tribunal to go beyond mere technicalities and address the yearnings of Nigerians for fair and credible elections," he said.

But economists said the ruling had strengthened Nigeria's political stability and this would reassure investors.

"We expect the decision to be positive for the performance of Nigerian markets," said Razia Khan, regional head of research for Africa at Standard Chartered Bank in London.

Uncertainty over whether Yar'Adua would finish his four-year term had slowed policy-making and investment decisions, and economists expressed hope the pace of reform would now pick up.

"The key is whether the greater political certainty translates into more effective government. There is not a lot the government can point to after nine months in power," said Graham Stock, Africa strategist at JP Morgan in London.

In a statement after the ruling, Yar'Adua pledged to run "a purposeful and result-oriented administration that will yield tangible and visible benefits for all Nigerians".

He also promised electoral reform to ensure that similar disputes do not arise in future.

Tribunals at state level have cancelled the elections of seven out of 36 state governors who were also elected last April, as well as the elections of the Senate president and dozens of legislators. The rulings cited voting irregularities.

 Dressed in a white traditional attire, the strict Muslim and proponent of Sharia, took the oath of office in a short ceremony, which followed the swearing in of his deputy, Goodluck Jonathan.

 A 21-gun salute formally welcomed the new leader into office, after which he climbed onto an open, ceremonial military jeep for a ride around the venue and an inspection of the guard of honour mounted by soldiers and policemen. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who handed over to Yar'Adua, had used the same jeep earlier for his final ride around the Eagle Square.

 The ceremony was attended by African leaders including Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Idriss Deby of Chad, Boni Yayi of Benin, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo and Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia. Also present were Faure Gnassigbe of Togo, Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso, Paul Biya of Cameroon, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and John Kufuor of Ghana. Algeria was represented by its Vice President. Western leaders largely shunned the ceremony, with the US and Britain, two key Nigerian allies, sending junior delegations to the ceremony.

 A coalition of Nigerian opposition parties, labour unions and civil society organisations had appealed to world leaders to boycott the ceremony, in protest against the last elections, described as a sham by local and international observers.

 Nigerian Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, said there was nothing to celebrate. "The sky is overcast, bleak and depressing where I am unavoidably occupied at the moment, but still nothing as filled with foreboding as the dark cloud that hangs over the Nigerian nation," Soyinka said in a statement to the coalition.

 While the celebration was going on, the coalition was marching in protest in the commercial city of Lagos on the second of a two-day, stay-at-home strike to denounce the presidential election won by Yar'Adua, a candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Police later descended on the protesters, making some arrests. At least six opposition presidential candidates have challenged the 21 April election of Yar'Adua in court. 29 May 2007 - PANA

The EU said last month's state and federal elections in Nigeria, won by the governing party, fell short of basic standards and could not be considered credible, free and fair. The EU has earmarked nearly 500-million euro (about R4,7-billion) over the last five years for different projects in Nigeria, most of them focused on good governance, health and water supply and sanitation.

Why Bush should focus on

It is our view that these transactions are shady and faulty on several fronts. One, they were not conducted by the BPE and apparently did not follow due process by not conforming to competitive open bidding. Secondly, these assets were grossly undervalued. Thirdly, all the stakeholders (employees, creditors and minority shareholders) were not consulted before the transactions were consummated. We wish to highlight a roll call of these transactions as follows:

-- The Port Harcourt Refinery was sold to Blue Star Oil at the cost of $561 million. Blue Star is a subsidiary of Dangote Group of Companies, an organization owned by one of the biggest financiers of the ruling party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Chairman of Zenon Oil, Mr. Femi Otedola (son of a past governor of Lagos State), is another big financier of the ruling PDP.

-- The Onigbolo Cement Company was grabbed by the Dangote Group at a ridiculous sum of $1.78 billion.....Click here for full report intervention, it's a long-term project," says Karim Dahou, an advisor to the Paris-based Africa Partnership Forum.

"While Nigeria's leaders are locked in a bad marriage that all dislike but dare not leave, there are possibilities that could disrupt the precarious equilibrium in Abuja," said the report, which was given to the press by Nigerian lawmakers....Click for report on In 15 years: Nigeria could collapse....

Ms. GERTHA WILLIAMS got the USAfrica Community Health Leadership award; Mrs. CAROLINE OKPARA got the USAfrica Community Business Leadership award while Madam MONICA AZUBIKE bagged the USAfrica Mother of the Year honor for 2007. The awards were primarily presented by Senator Eze Ajoku, Dr. & Mrs. Vincent Nwabeke, USAfrica's Founder Chido Nwangwu, Nze & Dr, Mrs. Chinyere Agi, Edith Okere-Ejiogu, event master of ceremonies was Dr. Chris Ulasi; outstanding DJ for the evening was OJ Jammin' Juice. Event co-sponsor was Moneygram.

CLASS magazine, USAfrica and USAfricaonline.com (characterized by The New York Times as the largest and most influential African-owned, U.S-based multimedia networks). USAfrica was founded in May 2002, in Houston, Texas by television broadcaster and multimedia media executive Chido Nwangwu. Contact e-mail: Class@Classmagazine.tv . USAfrica mailing address: . 8303 SW Freeway, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77074. Phone: 713-270-5500. Cell direct: 832-45-CHIDO (24436)

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"I have told this story again although we all know it. I am retelling it because as it goes with Anambra, so will it go with Nigeria. As Nigeria gets ready for the election of Governors, Anambra State is in a quandary. President Obasanjo's hatchet man for elections is determined that only one candidate will be allowed to run in the state and has gone ahead to disqualify everybody else so that the President's favourite man will be alone in the field. If this plan goes through, it would amount to nothing less than the disenfranchisement of the people of Anambra State."

"I must congratulate the Judiciary on the tough battle many of its members are waging for the soul of Nigeria. The Senate came ever so close to snatching Nigeria out of the fire, and then... That was a historic moment lost. What a pity."

But he INEC chairman has stated in an interview with USAfrica and CLASSmagazine that the elections will be free and fair. The excerpts of this exclusive interview appear here at USAfricaonline.com. Only in a few days through this April 2007, the Obasanjo government's position will be tested by the turn out and assessments by voters and observers.

In comparison, while Liberia's Madam President Sirleaf represents the manifestation of the triumph of popular constitutional methods and emerging institutional democratic values in Africa, retired General Obasanjo's imperious, know-it-all, emerging project for a sit-tight  presidency in Nigeria remind us all of the 1970s old Africa where constitution-tweaking soldiers (his colleagues) and power drunks  funnily believed their country's sun rose and shone at their hideous and idiosyncratic say-so. We won't go back there; no; not now that we  have the great Nelson Mandela as our icon, historical benchmark and reference point. Obasanjo makes it difficult for Obasanjo to be a statesman; no doubt, he's a regional leader.

As a specialist on US. and Africa public policy and cultural issues, here are things I'll suggest President Bush tell President Obasanjo, in a short, sweet but realistic summary: Full commentary here