Nigeria in 2008

The legal aftermath of the 2007 general election dominated domes- tic politics for most of the year. While the supreme court finally endorsed the election victory of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua towards the end of the year, the court of appeal declared some gubernatorial re- sults null and void and several other cases were still before the court at the year’s end. Over much of the year, the president enjoyed lim- ited legitimacy and authority. This was compounded by his health situation, a contentious issue in the public perception and one that to an extent further undermined his leadership. It soon became ap- parent that Yar’Adua was on shaky political ground. However, he did everything possible to reinforce his position against his predecessor , who saw himself as having the right to main- tain influence. Against the background of this silent struggle, some long overdue socioeconomic projects and programmes, particular in the energy and power sector, lost momentum, thereby putting the economy almost on hold. The situation in the Niger Delta remained deadlocked.

Domestic Politics

The two main rivals and runners-up in the presidential election, re- tired Maj. Gen. of the All People’s Party (ANPP) and Atiku Abubakar of the Action Congress (AC), had chal- lenged the outcome of the election in 2007, won by Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. Notwithstanding serious allegations of widespread voter intimidation, procedural irregularities, seizure of ballot boxes, fraud and organised rigging, the presidential election petitions tribunal unanimously dismissed the petitions on 26 February. Other peti- tions were struck down on the grounds of alleged incompetence. Without delay, both defeated main rivals filed notice of appeal in

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/9789004347410_006 98 Nigeria in 2008 the supreme court, which has the final say on presidential elections. On 12 December, the highest court of the land, in a narrowly split 4–3 decision, rejected Buhari’s final challenge to the presidential election. The majority of judges were convinced that the appellant had not proved that the non-serialisation of the ballot affected the outcome of the election. In Atiku’s case, the court ruled 6–1 in fa- vour of the incumbent. More was to come because the tribunals and the courts had to deal with other petitions concerning almost all gubernatorial and several National Assembly election results, which in some cases led to a re-run. Senate president David Bonaventure Mark (People’s Democratic Party, PDP), a retired major general, was the most prom- inent figure in parliament to (almost) fall victim to this trend. His election had been voided on 23 February by the election petitions tribunal in Benue state, which ordered a partial re-run. However, on 15 July the court of appeal set aside the nullification, thereby upholding his election in April 2007. The same applied for retired Brig. John Nanzip Shagaya (Plateau state) on 15 December, when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had to issue him a certificate of return for the senate. Major Satty Gogwin’s de- feat in the tribunal, however, was upheld by the court of appeal, but the AC-candidate for the Plateau central senatorial constituency eventually got back into the senate by winning the re-run on 26 July. There were comparable cases in other federal states, two of which in Anambra were noteworthy. On 11 July and 19 December respec- tively, the supreme court ordered two PDP members of the House of Representatives, Obinna Chidoka and Linda Ikpeazu, to surrender their seats and for Gozie Agbakoba and Charles Chinwendo Odeda to be sworn in in their place. According to the court, the latter two were denied their right to be validly nominated after the PDP pri- maries. It was only because this was a pre-election matter that the supreme court got involved. The fiercest legal battles, however, took place on the gubernato- rial front where organised rigging, fraud and intimidation during