NIGERIA AP GOV 2013

1. NIGERIA AP GOV 2013

2. More than 54.7% of the population (75 million people) live below the poverty line in a country where the life expectancy is 47. Eight years after the introduction of the president's privatisationprogrammes, Nigerians are still waiting for a guaranteed electricity supply, running water, sewerage services, improved rail and road services and telephone facilities. The capital, Abuja, is Nigeria's most expensive city, followed by the oil-rich Port Harcourt and then the largest city Lagos, the country's commercial capital. In May 2004, MrObasanjo introduced a home-grown economic reform programme named the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (Needs) which is intended to promote fiscal discipline and due process in public procurement, reform the civil service and banking system and introduce privatisation and transparency . Human rights have improved considerably since 1999, though Nigeria still retains the death penalty. The Obasanjo government set up the Oputa Panel to investigate human rights abuses under the military, and established a Human Rights Commission. There is a large and active civil society and a free and vibrant media. However, there are reports of torture, beatings and extra-judicial killing, largely blamed on ill-trained members of the security forces.

3. Nigeria has some of the worst social indicators in the world: one in five children die before the age of five; 12 million children are not in school; and there are nearly two million Aids orphans.

5. Gordon Brown promised to help Nigeria tackle the unrest in the Delta

7. Do you get it???? • Nigeria made its first transition from one elected government to another when Obasanjo won a second term in April ________ (year) The ruling ___________ (party) also dominated the _________ (year) legislative elections, winning 76 of 109 _________seats and 223 of 360 House seats. The ___________captured 27 seats in the Senate and 96 in the House, while the Alliance for Democracy won 6 Senate seats and 34 House seats. Smaller parties secured the remainder.

8. Do you get it???? Successfully completed, the _______presidential election was Nigeria's first peaceful handover from one democratically elected president at the end of his constitutional term to the next. The most recent failed election was the 1993 election of M. K. O.______, which was annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, the military dictator ruling at the time. General Sani ________eventually seized power, and when _______tried to claim his presidency, he was imprisoned until his questionable death in 1998.

9. Do you get it???? The Nigerian general elections of 2007were held on 14 April and 21 April 2007. Governorship and state assembly elections were held on 14 April, while the presidential and __________ ___________elections were held a week later on 21 April. Umaru _____ _______won the highly controversial election for the ruling ____________________ and was sworn in on 29 May. President Olusegun Obasanjo thus could not pursue a third term. Additionally he was unsupported by Atiku Abubakar, his vice-president. Presidential candidates were announced in late December 2006, and 50,000 assault rifles were ordered to help the military maintain order during the election. Umaru Yar'Adua contested the election for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), and the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) chose Muhammadu Buhari. Atiku Abu-Bakr, the current Vice-President, announced on 25 November 2006 that he would contest the election, and he subsequently became the presidential candidate of the Action Congress in December. Results of Election http://africanelections.tripod.com/ng.html#2007_National_Assembly_Election

10. Do you get it???? The Economist asked: Could Double-O make it three in a row?What was the issue??? Elections April________ Will Nigeria make it through a third presidential election? On May 16, 2006 the Nigerian Senate voted to block a constitutional amendment which would have allowed its president to serve more than two terms in office.

11. Money and Violence Hobble Democracy in Nigeria NYT 11/24/2006 Election April 2007 Kayode Fayemi, left, holding a microphone, a candidate for governor of Ekiti state, campaigns for the nomination of the Action Congress party.

12. Millions Vote in Nigeria, but Intimidation Is Widespread By 10:30 a.m. in Oye, Nigeria, officials were unable to process a single ballot because voters had been kept away from the polling stations. April 14 — Millions of Nigerians went to the polls on Saturday to choose state and local leaders in the first stage of what is to be a landmark election for Africa’s most populous nation. The voting was marred by unrest and violence across the country, though in some areas the polls appeared to go smoothly. In the oil-rich Niger Delta, militants attacked police stations, burning three to the ground. In the volatile north, the military broke up demonstrations. The election, if it is successful, could lead to something new in Nigeria: the first time one elected government hands over power to another, a watershed moment for a nation that has suffered through repeated coups, military rule and a grim civil war that nearly destroyed the country. The voting across Nigeria will choose governors for its 36 states and state and local legislatures. While much of the international attention has focused on the presidential vote, which will take place a week later, for most people state and local government has the deepest influence over their lives.

13. Voters in Nigeria lined up for hours on Saturday, long after the polls were supposed to start. There are wide accusations of ballot rigging in favor of the ruling PDP party NYT 4/23/27

14. Nigeria’s Governing Party Takes Lead in Elections A man holding a ballot box was part of a mob that chased a worker for the Nigerian election commission, which has been accused of ballot rigging and other abuses, on Saturday in Ekiti State during state elections. ADO EKITI, Nigeria, April 15 — Violent protests broke out in several of Nigeria’s 36 states on Sunday as partial results from highly contested state elections appeared to hand most of the victories to the governing People’s Democratic Party. The police said 21 people had died in election violence, but local newspapers estimated that the toll was at least twice that number. Allegations of vote rigging, ballot stealing and intimidation in several states in the first round of Nigeria’s landmark elections set off violence and raised fears that the country’s presidential voting, to be held later this week, could fail, according to candidates and independent observers. Of the 10 state governor races for which results were available, the People’s Democratic Party was leading in 8.

15. A mob of young men and boys, angry because they were not able to vote, burned tires and demolished signs during a riot in the town of Malumfashi . The rioters, supporters of the opposition ANPP party, accused the ruling PDP party of rigging the elections. The rioters, supporters of the opposition ANPP party, accused the ruling PDP party of rigging the elections

16. An absolute majority or at least 25% in two-thirds of the states is required for a candidate to be elected in the first round. Check to see that last pres elections were more thatn 50% http://www.electionguide.org/election.php?ID=1099

17. A First in Nigeria: A Peaceful __________of Power Nigeria’s new president, Umaru Yar’Adua, took office Tuesday in Abuja. After a history of military coups, Mr. Yar’Adua’s inauguration was the country’s first peaceful transition of power between civilians ABUJA, Nigeria, May 29 (AP) — This time, the shots were fired in celebration. For the first time in Nigeria’s coup-riddled history, power passed between two civilians, as the army hailed the new president, Umaru Yar’Adua, with a 21-gun salute on Tuesday

18. And the winner is . . . ABUJA, Nigeria, April 23 — The governing party’s candidate for president, Umaru Yar’Adua, easily won the election in Nigeria, election officials here announced Monday. But his chief rivals for the office immediately rejected the results, and international observers said that the voting, which took place amid chaos, fraud and violence, was not credible. . . . Mr. Yar’Adua, a 56-year-old governor of the remote northern state of Katsina, had been a reclusive figure from a prominent political family. Under the unwritten rules of Nigerian politics, which dictate that the presidency alternate between the north and south, a northern Muslim like Mr. Yar’Adua would undoubtedly replace Mr. Obasanjo, a Yoruba Christian from the southwest. . . . . Seldom seen outside his home state and rumored to have kidney disease, Mr. Yar’Adua was a surprise choice for the ruling party as a presidential candidate, leading to speculation that he was chosen as a weak stand-in for Mr. Obasanjo, who is limited to two terms as president by the Constitution. But supporters of Mr. Yar’Adua say he is his own man, who plans to continue the reforms of Mr. Obasanjo’s government, but put his own stamp on the nation.

19. December 14, 2008 Legal Victory Can’t Erase Nigerian Leader’s Troubles By WILL CONNORS LAGOS, Nigeria — The last legal challenge to the legitimacy of President Umaru Yar’Adua was quashed by the Supreme Court last week, but he and Nigeria are far from out of the woods. Although Mr. Yar’Adua, a former governor from a remote northern state, finally has a firm mandate to take charge of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous and oil-rich country, he has accomplished so little in the 19 months since his flawed election that few believe that he can. In its 4-to-3 decision on Friday in his favor, the Supreme Court did little to inspire confidence in the president or in the circumstances that brought him to power. While dismissing the suit brought by opposition leaders to overturn the April 2007 elections, the court conceded that widespread voting irregularities had occurred and severely chastised the national electoral commission for incompetence. .

20. Nigeria Registers 67.8 Million Eligible Voters for Coming General Election

21. Nigeria elects on federal level a head of state (the President of Nigeria) and a legislature (the National Assembly). The president is elected by the people. The _______ ___________has two chambers. The ____________ of ______________has 360 members, elected for a four year term in single-seat constituencies. The _______has 109 members, elected for a four year term: the 36 states are divided in 3 senatorial districts each electing one senator; the Federal Capital Territory elects only one senator. Nigeria has a multi-party system, with two or three strong parties and a third party that is electorally successful. For pres: TRS: An absolute majority or at least 25% in two-thirds of the states is required for a candidate to be elected in the first round.

22. The People's Democratic Party is a centrist political party in Nigeria. It won the Presidential elections of , 2003, and 2007, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic. The PDP favors free-market policies which support economic liberalism, and limited government regulation. In The PDP strives to maintain the status quo on oil revenue distribution. Though the PDP government setup the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to address the needs of the oil-producing Niger Delta states, it has rebuffed repeated efforts to revert back to the 50% to 50% federal-to-state government revenue allocation agreement established in 1966.

23. Social issues The PDP is against same sex relations, and favors social conservatism on moral and religious grounds. In 2007, the PDP-dominated National Assembly sponsored a bill to outlaw homosexual relations, making it punishable by law for up to five years in prison On the other hand, the PDP adopts a more leftist stance towards poverty and welfare. In 2005, President Obasanjo launched Nigeria's first National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to ensure that every Nigerian has access to basic health care services The party is a moderate advocate of state-autonomy and religious freedom for the Nigerian provinces. In the year 2000 the introduction of Islamic law in some states in Northern Nigeria triggered sectarian violence in Kaduna and Abia states. The PDP-led federal government refused to bow to pressure from the southern, predominantly Christian states to repeal the law, and instead opted for a compromise where Islamic law would only apply to Muslims.

24. The Action Congress (AC) is a classical liberal Nigerian political party formed via the merger of the Alliance for Democracy, the Justice Party, the Advance Congress of Democrats, and several other minor political parties in September 2006 The party was formed in 2006 in order to form a larger political opposition to the federally-dominant centrist People's Democratic Party and the Northern-based All Nigeria Peoples Party The party ran Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who defected from the People's Democratic Party, as its presidential candidate in the 2007 presidential election. Abubakar was disqualified from the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission, but the disqualification was later overturned by the Supreme Court.[1] Currently, the party's most prominent elected official is governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.

25. The ANPP is the household party in the extreme north of Nigeria, primarily due to its mass appeal. It is the strongest opposition party, controlling seven of the nation's thirty-six states. The ANPP is a right-wing conservative party with mass appeal. The party draws its strength from the predominantly radical region of Northern Nigeria, and strives to maintain the status quo of radical politics in the Nigerian polity.[

26. Nigeria moves to tighten gay laws Wednesday, 14 February 2007, 18:57 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6362505.stm BBC

27. Biafra war: Attacks, blockade killed more than a million

28. General Abacha was accused of stealing some $3bn from state

29. _______ _________: a sudden shock to state policy involving deliberate violation of constitutional reforms by a group of persons in authority; a quick and decisive seizure of governmental power by a strong military or political group. In contrast to a revolution, a coup does not involve a mass uprising. Rather, in a typical coup, a small group of politicians or generals arrests the incumbent leaders, seizes the national radio and television services and proclaims itself in power. French for stroke of the state or blow to the government

30. APRIL 1990 COUP D'ETAT SPEECH Fellow Nigerian Citizens,  On behalf of the patriotic and well-meaning peoples of the Middle Belt and the southern parts of this country, I , Major Gideon Orkar, wish to happily inform you of the successful ousting of the dictatorial, corrupt, drug baronish, evil man, deceitful, homo-sexually-centered,prodigalistic, un-patriotic administration of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.  We have equally commenced their trials for unabated corruption, mismanagement of national economy, the murders of Dele Giwa, Major-General Mamman Vasta, with other officers as there was no attempted coup but mere intentions that were yet to materialise and other human rights violations.  The National Guard already in its formative stage is disbanded with immediate effect.  Decrees Number 2 and 46 are hereby abrogated.  We wish to emphasise that this is not just another coup but a well conceived, planned and executed revolution for the marginalised, oppressed and enslaved peoples of the Middle Belt and the south with a  view to freeing ourselves and children yet unborn from eternal slavery and colonisation by a clique of this country. Our history is replete with numerous and uncontrollable instances of callous and insensitive dominatory repressive intrigues by those who think it is their birthright to dominate till eternity the political and economic privileges of this great country to the exclusion of the people of the Middle Belt and the south.

31. General Abdusalami Abubakarer: "All along - as far back as 1979, '72 - the military have been wanting to hand over, but because of one thing or another, the politicians, the civilians, fail to do things correctly and the military thought they should intervene to correct these anomalies."--NewsHour, 10/21/98

32. One of the most fragmented societies in the world: • Ethnicity: Between 250-400 separate ethnic groups (many have very little in common, different languages, religions, etc…) • Religion: Many arguments still exist over the preferential treatment given to the Christians by the British, the role of Islam’s religious law in the nation’s policymaking practices are also a major concern • Region: Nigeria was divided into three federated regions five years before independence, differences are still very evident • Urban v. Rural: Most organized protests occur in the cities, as well as media outlets • Social Class: Rich v. poor division runs deep. Elites control the state’s resources-appealing to the ethnic and religious identities of the people

33. Nigeria is home to some 250 ethnic groups Dominant among them is the _________ and ________who are overwhelmingly Muslim and concentrated in the north,the _______(also spelled Ibo), predominantly Christian and concentrated in the southeast, the _________are found in the southwest and are divided between Christian, Muslims, and local animist faiths. nearly a third of the population belongs of these three groups

34. The broad characterisation of a Muslim Hausa-speaking north, and a Christian south made up of two dominant tribes - the Yoruba in the southwest and the Ibo in the southeast - is a vast over-simplification. In some states across central Nigeria, for example, it is possible to drive down a road, stopping at each tiny settlement, encountering a different language spoken in every single one. And to further complicate this ethnic mix, over the decades and even centuries, people have moved around what is now modern day Nigeria. A substantial minority of southern Christians now live in the north, as many northern Hausa Muslims have migrated south Nigeria's Middle-Belt has hundreds of communities living side-by-side Reports of clashes in one part of Nigeria can lead to reprisals elsewhere

35. CIA Factbook: Religions--Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10% --statistics vary—remember the census? English: official language

36. Diversity has created significant problems for the consolidation of democracy each group to sees politics in zero-sum terms (an electoral victory by a Hausa candidate, for example, is viewed as a blow to the interests of the Yoruba, and vice-versa) military leaders often played on the fears of ethnic conflict as a justification for authoritarianism, arguing that democracy only exacerbated these fault lines between regions and peoples. Army patrols have restored calm in Lagos

37. In May 1967 the Igbo dominated Eastern Region seceded from Nigeria, declaring itself the Republic of Biafra. Although the Biafrans were outnumbered and outgunned, they held off the Nigerian military for three years, helped in part by international support, which believed that the Nigerian government was conducting a genocidal war against the Igbo. Azikiwe, who had been dismissed from his post by the military government, became a prominent supporter of Biafran independence. Biafra was defeated in 1970. Although this did not lead to the Igbo extermination that many feared, the war itself exacted huge costs in terms of military and civilian life—estimates range from 500,000 to as high as three million GO to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/30/newsid_3733000/3733321.stm

38. Nigeria Turns From Harsher Side of Islamic Law KANO, Nigeria — Just last year, the morality police roamed these streets in dusky blue uniforms and black berets, brandishing cudgels at prayer shirkers and dragging fornicators into Islamic courts to facesentences like death by public stoning. But these days, the fearsome police officers, known as the Hisbah, are little more than glorified crossing guards. They have largely been confined to their barracks and assigned anodyne tasks like directing traffic and helping fans to their seats at soccer games. The Islamic revolution that seemed so destined to transform northern Nigeria in recent years appears to have come and gone — or at least gone in a direction few here would have expected. When Muslim-dominated states like Kano adopted Islamic law after the fall of military rule in 1999, radical clerics from the Arabian peninsula arrived in droves to preach a draconian brand of fundamentalism, and newly empowered religious judges handed down tough punishments like amputation for theft. Kano became a center of anti-American sentiment in one of the most reliably pro-American countries in Africa. But since then, much of the furor has died down, and the practice of Islamic law, or Shariah, which had gone on for centuries in the private sphere before becoming enshrined in public law, has settled into a distinctively Nigerian compromise between the dictates of faith and the chaotic realities of modern life in an impoverished, developing nation. “Shariah needs to be practical,” said Bala Abdullahi, a civil servant here. “We are a developing country, so there is a kind of moderation between the ideas of the West and traditional Islamic values. We try to weigh it so there is no contradiction.”

39. Girls in Kano, Nigeria, attend a hybrid school that combines Islamic education with secular subjects like math and reading

40. New programs have sprung up to encourage parents to send their daughters to hybrid public elementary schools that offer traditional Islamic education along with math and reading. In many of these classes girls outnumber boys

41. Girls in Kano distributed textbooks to their classmates

42. The United States Agency for International Development is so impressed with the potential of these programs that one-third of the schools it supports across Nigeria are integrated Islamic and secular schools, according to officials at the agency.

43. A sign in Kano reminds visitors that religious law is in place throughout the state and that they should "take heed."

44. Since 1999 and the end of military rule communal violence has risen, as the state no longer is able to suppress the public as it pleases and as the struggle for control over the state has returned to the populace. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, it is estimated that such conflicts have taken over 12,000 lives and left three quarters of a million displaced, This violence frequently has economic motives, with its origins in conflicts over access to state funds, oil revenues, jobs or other resources. Moreover, it is frequently asserted that political elites capitalize on these conflicts as a way to build their base of support, even to the point of inciting conflict through words and actions (such as paying supporters to attack rival groups). Reports of clashes in one part of Nigeria can lead to reprisals elsewhere

45. These conflicts also have a religious component. In recent years there has been a deepening fissure between Muslims, who are concentrated in the north, with Christians and animists in the south. The catalyst for this conflict has been the role of Sharia, or Islamic law. Under British rule Islamic law was preserved in the north and continued to serve an important, if limited, role. This practice was continued under independent Nigeria, but by the 1970s Islamic groups began to press the Babangida regime to allow for the expansion of Sharia’s use in the north as well as its use in higher courts, where it had no authority. The body of a Muslim victim of the violence lay Thursday outside a ruined mosque as a member of a local gang looked inside. Attacks on Muslims in the south of Nigeria followed attacks on Christians in the north.

46. While the repression of the Abacha regime froze much of this activism, it quickly revived with the onset of civilian rule. Muslim leaders and publics saw the expansion of Sharia as a way to overcome the corruption of the military era and a way to reassert their rights in a democratic system. Some political leaders also clearly saw the issue in a more cynical light as a way to garner public support. Shortly after the 1999 elections a number of northern states made Sharia the primary law, extending it to criminal and other matters. This legal system included a severe provision for adultery and apostasy (leaving the faith): death by stoning. The imposition of Sharia touched off some of the worst violence under civilian rule; in one incident in 2000, clashes between Christians and Muslims in the city of Kaduna left two thousand dead. This tension over Sharia also grabbed international attention when two women were sentenced to be stoned for adultery. Although eventually overturned by higher courts, the seeming incompatibility between secular national law and an expansive regional use of Sharia remains a serious and potentially destabilizing issue After the ruling Ms Ibrahim thanked those who had helped her BBC Nov 2004

47. Counting the Bodies in the Aftermath of Clashes in Nigeria Women passed a destroyed house in Jos, Nigeria, on Monday. Life began to return to normal after election-related violence.

48. Muslim’s rioted in 2002 over the plans to hold the “Miss World” contest, which they see as offensive to their values, in Nigeria.

49. WP: Feb 2006 Ifeanyi Eze uses a piece of charred wood to write on the wall of a mosque in Onitsha: "Mohammed is a man but Jesus is from above."

50. A mosque in Onitsha was destroyed by Christian rioters. NYT Feb 24 2006