Nigeria's electoral commission on Wednesday
approved the creation of an opposition coalition that will join three political
parties and is expected to present a strong challenge to President Goodluck
Jonathan and his party in 2015 elections.
The commission announced that the
parties met all statutory requirements for their merger into the All
Progressives Congress that includes powerful Muslims from the north and equally
influential Christian southerners.
Among them are former military ruler
Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, a popular northerner who some consider a strong
anti-corruption fighter. Jonathan is largely perceived as failing despite
promises to halt the endemic graft that is debilitating to the economy of
Africa's biggest oil producer.
The coalition's most powerful figure
from the south is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a former senator and past governor of
Lagos State who is considered a kingmaker.
"All sorts of obstacles were
thrown into our path by anti-democratic forces," said coalition spokesman
Lai Mohammed, welcoming the decision. He said the coalition's emergence is
"a victory for Nigeria and for democracy" that propels the country
into "the league of top democratic nations with two major political
parties."
Jonathan now is presented with the
double challenge of a strong opposition and rifts within his own People's
Democratic Party that could damage any bid to extend his presidency. Jonathan
has not yet decided whether he will run, his office announced this week. He
came to power by default as he was vice president when President Umar Yar'Adua died
in 2010 and he then won the presidential election in 2011.
Northern politicians are opposed to
Jonathan, a southerner and Christian, running for a second four-year term in
2015, objecting that northerners have been cheated of their chance at the presidency
by Yar'Adua's death. While there is nothing in the constitution about it, there
is an unwritten agreement in the ruling People's Democratic Party that power
must be shared between the north and the south and a northern president should
be succeeded by a southerner, to balance power in Africa's most populous
nation. Nigeria has more than 160 million people, divided about equally between
Muslims who dominate the north and Christians who live mainly in the south.
Traditional rivalries between
Christians and Muslims have intensified because of an Islamic uprising in the
northeast of the sprawling nation. The Boko Haram terrorist network is accused
of the killings of more than 1,600 civilians since 2010, according to an AP
count.
The People's Democratic Power has
won every election since decades of military dictatorship ended in 1999 and
democracy was restored.
Tinubu's support ensured Jonathan
won the vote in the southwest in the 2011 elections, clinching the president's
victory. Jonathan would have difficulty securing those votes without Tinubu's
backing.
Jonathan is also confronted by a
revolt within his own party, from some governors with presidential aspirations.
In the most dramatic manifestation of the divisions, a handful of pro-Jonathan
legislators who want to impeach Rivers State Gov. Rotimi Amaechi led thugs into
the National Assembly and started a fight in which one legislator broke the
mace - the symbol of authority of the house - beating up another legislator.
The new coalition is considered the
first viable option to PDP rule. But it too faces challenges in deciding who to
present as its presidential candidate. Buhari, who appears an obvious choice,
is a strong contender in the north but likely would have difficulty garnering
votes from Christian southerners, even with the support of the coalition's
southern partner, Tinubu's Action Congress of Nigeria.
The coalition's statement promised
"plans to turn today's hopelessness into a time of great opportunities, to
reverse the downward slide in our socio-economic development, and to ensure
that every Nigerian benefits from the commonwealth, instead of the present
situation in which a few fat cats are milking the system dry at the expense of
the citizenry."
---
By MICHELLE FAUL, Bashir Adigun contributed
to this report from Abuja, Nigeria.
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