Few brave heavy police presence to demonstrate against Obasanjo

Police blocked major streets in two of Nigeria’s biggest cities on Monday and fired tear gas to disperse a handful of protesters demanding President Olusegun Obasanjo’s resignation. Leading opposition parties and human rights groups called the protests in the capital Abuja and Nigeria’s biggest city Lagos to support their accusations that the government rigged presidential elections last year that gave Obasanjo a second four-year term and local elections last March in which his People’s Democratic Party (PDP) swept the board. Last month they promised to mobilise at least two million people in a major street protest, but in the end fewer than 2,000 turned out. “Obasanjo’s personalisation of power has resulted in the foreclosure of the ballot as an option for positive change,” Balarabe Musa, leader of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, a coalition of opposition parties, told reporters before leading the Abuja protest, which mustered about 600 people. About 1,000 gathered to demonstrate in Lagos. The organisers said a heavy and intimidating police presence and police ban on the demonstration had persuaded people to stay away. Given the show of force put on by police, many political analysts in Nigeria expressed surprised that anyone dared to take to the streets at all. The small crowd which braved the heavy presence of the security forces in Abuja was stopped from marching when police fired teargas to disperse the protestors. Musa was accompanied by former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, Obasanjo’s main challenger in last year’s presidential election who stood as the candidate for the All Nigeria People’s Party. Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu, the presidential candidate for the All Progressive Grand Alliance and the former leader of the secessionist state Biafra during Nigeria's 1967-70 civil war, also made an appearance. Buhari’s campaign officials said the police attacked their offices in Abuja, trashing equipment and beating up several people in an early morning raid. They said this was part of a deliberate attempt to intimidate Obasanjo’s opponents. Police spokesman Chris Olakpe would neither deny nor confirm the claims. “If that is an allegation, it will be looked into,” he said. In Lagos more than 1,000 protesters bearing placards and banners denouncing Obasanjo’s government gathered at the entrance to state governor Bola Tinubu’s office by mid-morning. They chanted protest songs and distributed leaflets condemning Obasanjo. “Nigerians have been denied the opportunity of using the ballot box to remove bad rulers and other democratic institutions […] have become mere extensions of the Obasanjo presidency,” the United Action for Democracy (UAD) of 26 rights and civil society groups said in a statement distributed during the protest. “Nigerians are left with no other option than the instrumentality of mass action,” said UAD. However, when the marchers tried to spill onto the main highway leading to Lagos city centre, dozens of anti-riot police on standby shot tear gas at the protesters and chased them away bearing whips and batons. Police said an unspecified number of protesters were arrested in both Abuja and Lagos, many of them for “distributing inciting leaflets”. Obasanjo, a former military ruler, was elected head of state in 1999 following 15 years of military rule, that became increasingly corrupt and oppressive. Obasanjo was re-elected last year in a series of controversial elections which also saw his PDP keep its majority in the federal parliament and strengthen its control over a majority of Nigeria's 36 state governments.