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CNS Story:
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NIGERIA-ELECTION Apr-24-2007 (270 words) xxxi
Nigerian bishops say elections were not free, fair or credible
By Peter Ajayi Dada
Catholic News Service
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNS) The Nigerian bishops' conference criticized national elections, saying they were not free, fair or credible.
"The reports from across the country showed that the mandate of the people was abused, traumatized and brutalized," said a conference statement April 24. Church leaders said they based their remarks on the observations of 30,000 election observers deployed under the church's justice and peace commission.
The bishops said government officials and members of the Independent National Electoral Commission failed to prepare adequately for the April 21 round of national elections after allegations of improprieties in the April 14 elections for state and local posts.
"It is very unfortunate that neither INEC nor the government heeded our call to provide better logistics, tighter security for the ballot boxes and the electorate. We never seem to learn from the past," the bishops said.
They reported "blatant rigging and falsification of election results with the connivance of some INEC officials, security agents and political thugs," particularly in states in which the ruling party claimed victory despite questionable results.
Nigerians "can no longer persist in the deceit of styling our country a democracy, whereas only a handful of the political elite decide the outcome of (the) electoral process," the bishops said.
Ruling party candidate Umaru Yar'Adua was declared the winner of the election; the national election commission said he won with 24.6 million votes, well ahead of his two main rivals. However, Nigeria's opposition parties immediately rejected the result and said they would take the matter to court.
END
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