Nigeria's president says elections not fatally flawed
POSTED: 5:38 p.m. EDT, April 24, 2007

Story Highlights• Obasanjo: Don't judge country by developed-world standards
• Opposition rejects win by Umaru Yar'Adua
• Observers say election not credible after massive improprieties
A
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- President Olusegun Obasanjo said in remarks released Tuesday that Nigeria's deeply flawed weekend presidential elections should not be voided and asked observers not to judge his country by developed-world standards.

The political opposition has rejected the Saturday vote, won by Umaru Yar'Adua of Obasanjo's ruling party, that local and international observers said was not credible after massive improprieties, including ballot-box stuffing.

Obasanjo reiterated his acknowledgement that the vote had been flawed, but said "the magnitude does not make the results null and void."

He said election observers should not only criticize, but help.

"We should not be measured by European standards. Nigeria has come a long way from when I first voted. We are better than 20 years ago," he said in statement, which indicated he made the comments originally to the British Broadcasting Corp.

The campaign for the third-place challenger, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, said he rejected the result announced Monday and said he would mount a court challenge.

The runner up, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, also rejected the vote as rigged by Obasanjo's ruling party, and a party spokesman said a final response was still being formulated.

The spokesman, Abba Kyari, said his party, the country's leading opposition group, was not calling for mass demonstrations.

He said public rallies could spark massive unrest in his chaotic nation and that a decision to stage protests would only be made after careful consideration.

"We prepared for elections, we didn't prepare for war," he told The Associated Press.

The elections were meant to boost civilian rule and stability in Africa's top oil producer, where some 15,000 people have died in political violence since 1999 as factions fought for power in a political space liberated by the end of strict military rule that year.

Questions about the elections' legitimacy undermined the voting for Nigeria's first transfer of power from one elected civilian to another. All other civilian transfers of power between elected officials have been undermined by annulments or military coups. Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960.

President-elect Umaru Yar'Adua, the 56-year old governor of a heavily Muslim northern state, is scheduled to take over the presidency on May 29.

Obasanjo, a former military ruler, won a 1999 election that ended 15 years of near-constant military rule. His 2003 re-election was marked by allegations of massive vote rigging. The opposition says the elections were the worst-ever in Nigeria.

Dozens of Nigerians have died in civil strife related to the presidential election and a week-earlier vote for state officials that the ruling party also won, and the outcome seemed unlikely to stanch further bloodshed, like a low-intensity armed struggle in the country's oil-producing region.

Oil prices rose on news from Nigeria, in part because of concern about Nigeria, a country of 140 million people.