Nigeria's ruling party toppled the
main opposition candidate in a state governorship vote this weekend, officials
said, giving President Goodluck Jonathan a boost ahead of national polls next
year. Ayodele Fayose of The People's Democratic Party's (PDP) took almost 60
percent of the vote in southwestern Ekiti state, unseating the opposition
incumbent Kayode Fayemi, the electoral commission announced on Sunday.
Governors are among the most powerful
figures in Africa's largest economy and oil producer. Some control budgets
bigger than those of many African countries and play a significant role in
selecting presidential candidates. The victory in Ekiti - where organizers said
voting was fair and peaceful - was a rare piece of good news for a ruling party
that is likely to see its sternest test yet in the 2015 national election. Jonathan
has been beleaguered by defections of senior figures and criticism for his
government's failure to quell Islamist group Boko Haram, which abducted more
than 200 schoolgirls from a remote northeastern village in April. The main
opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) was created out of four regional
parties last year - presenting a nationwide challenge to the ruling party.
Fayemi took office in late 2010
after a court annulled the result of 2007 polls that were marred by
intimidation, vote-rigging and ballot-stuffing. Security was heavy during this
year's polls, and the electoral commission declared the election "free,
fair, credible and transparent". [ID: nL6N0P20QM] The United States would
be watching the vote with "great interest", Washington's ambassador
to Nigeria, James Entwistle, said ahead of the polls, adding a free and
peaceful election would help demonstrate the credibility of the electoral
system. More than 800 people were killed and 65,000 displaced in three days of
violence following the 2011 presidential election, Human Rights Watch has said.
Rioting erupted mainly in the mostly
Muslim north after Jonathan, a Christian from the south, won the vote.
Source: Reuters
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