Nigeria may get Muslim president

2007-01-12 14:42

Abuja - After eight years of rule by an elected southern Christian, all the main political parties had nominated northern, Muslim candidates for this year's presidential race in a fractious nation split between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria.

While there were some accusations that the Christian-to-Muslim hand-over stems from corrupt deal-making, there's also a sense that even a crude check on long-term dominance by any regional or ethnic group might be better than a free for all.

Innocent Ike, a 25-year old Christian who worked in a book stall selling Bibles, said: "If I have my chance, I'll try to do good by you. If you do my people bad, I'll do bad for you. Now we all do good works for each other."

Religious violence flares

The 140 million people of Africa's most-populous nation were roughly split between a south dominated by Christians and once controlled by Europeans and a Muslim north, where Arabs travelling across the Sahara Desert established their footholds. Followers of traditional religions made up a small minority.

Religious and ethnic intermarriage were frequent and many communities boasted both mosques and cathedrals. But, religious violence had flared frequently since divisions largely tamped down by military regimes flourished with the fresh oxygen of freedom and liberty.

The question of religious identity was so sensitive that Nigeria's secular government didn't include it on a census taken last year.

Detailed results released this week showed northern states with 75 million people to the south's 65 million - findings promptly rejected by state governments across the south.

Military regimes led by Muslim

After decades of military rule, the April 27 ballot was set to be the first time one elected leader hands power to another in Nigeria. Incumbent Olusegun Obasanjo was prevented from running again by term limits.

Most of the military regimes were led by Muslim northerners, since Britain largely staffed the pre-1960 independence army from the north.

Leaders reportedly brokered an agreement ahead of the 1999 elections that brought to power the consensus Christian candidate, Obasanjo.

Junaid Muhammad, an ex-MP, said: "After the end of rule by northern Muslims ... quite a number of people even in the north believed that the northerners had made a hash of things and it was time to have a southerner in charge."

Muhammad, a northern Muslim himself, said the parties' recent turn toward the north was simply smart politics.

Obasanjo's People's Democratic Party nominated a largely unknown official from the north, Katsina Governor Umaru Yar'Adua, for president.

- AP