Abati: Election 2011: Nigeria’s finest moment?

Guardian

29 April 2011

Abati: Election 2011: Nigeria’s finest moment?

By Reuben Abati Opinion

IT’s been a long while since Nigerians had a reason to be optimistic and joyful about their country, may be the last time was when Nigeria won an international soccer trophy, soccer being an undisguised source of collective excitement. Each day in the country is taken up by tales of woe and misery, worrisome reports of abductions, state failure, collapse of infrastructure, sectarian violence, corruption in high and low places, mass emigrations and widespread cynicism. When the country celebrated its 50th independence anniversary in October 2010, the national ceremony in Abuja was abbreviated by sounds of bomb explosions. When the country embarked on the process of another general election, there was so much concern, expressed locally and internationally, that the elections would take Nigeria to the edge of the precipice.

Today, the country has more or less concluded election 2011, and although there was an outbreak of violence in the 12 Northern states over the outcome of the Presidential election of April 16, reports of election malpractices, protests about results in Ika North, Anambra Central, Plateau state, pre-election tension in Akwa Ibom, “an inconclusive” Gubernatorial election in Imo state, and the heavy deployment of soldiers in the North, Delta state and Oyo state, the pervasive impression is that election 2011 is a vast improvement on previous elections in Nigeria.