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Nigerian candidates 'corrupt'
07/02/2007 16:57 - (SA)
Abuja - Nigeria's anti-corruption squad has
named 130 candidates in April elections as unfit to hold office,
including vice-president Atiku Abubakar, in a move opposition
parties said was biased against them.
Abubakar, running for president on an opposition ticket
after he fell out with President Olusegun Obasanjo, is the most
prominent name on the list drawn up by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
A spokesperson said the commission had written to political
parties this week, advising them to withdraw
those candidates rather than see them disqualified later.
"It's advisory but we expect them to take action. If they
don't, the parties stand to lose when these people are
prosecuted as they certainly will be," said Osita Nwajah.
Nigerians are due to elect their president, state governors
and national and state legislators in April in elections that
should mark the first democratic transition from one civilian
government to the next in Africa's most populous nation.
Victimisation?
The anti-corruption commission, created by Obasanjo in 2003,
vowed last year that it would act to stop tainted politicians
from gaining office. But the opposition accuses it of targeting
Obasanjo's opponents while leaving his allies undisturbed.
The commission's black list includes 51 candidates from the
ruling People's Democratic Party, 35 from the opposition All
Nigeria People's Party and 27 from another big opposition party,
the Action Congress, said Nwajah.
Opposition spokesperson said the names on the ruling party's
list were second-tier politicians, most of whom were running for
lower level jobs such as seats on state houses of assembly.
In contrast, they said, opposition parties were being asked
to withdraw their most prominent members from the races for the
presidency, state governorships or seats in the national senate.
He said his party, which has vice-president Abubakar as its
presidential candidate, would ignore the warning.
Allegations of corruption against VP
Nwajah denied the commission was biased and said it was
easier for people to claim they were being victimised than to
defend themselves against allegations of corruption.
Allegations of corruption against the vice-president are not
new. Obasanjo published two reports against him, including one
written by the EFCC, in September.
He later used those reports
to exclude his estranged deputy from the ruling party's
presidential primary even though a court said they were invalid.
Abubakar hit back with accusations of corruption against
Obasanjo and defected to the Action Congress. The pair has been
engaged in a vitriolic war of words and hardly a day goes by
without mutual allegations of wrongdoing.
As vice-president, Abubakar has immunity from prosecution,
but the presidency is trying several strategies to force him to
step down. Abubakar is resisting these attempts in the courts.
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