Former Nigerian military leader Ibrahim Babangida, who seized power in a bloodless coup and annuled an election intended to hand over power to a civilian leader, wants to run for president next year, his spokesman said Monday. Babangida's latest attempt at recapturing the office he seized some 25 years ago is bound to generate controversy because as military ruler he annulled the presidential poll of June 1993, which Nigerians and foreign observers considered to be the country's freest and fairest. He was not a candidate in that election. He only explored seeking a nomination in 2007.

The former military leader will seek the nomination of the governing People's Democratic Party, or PDP, said Kassim Afegbua, his spokesman.

"We are in full throttle; there is no going back this time around," said Afegbua, in reference to Babangida's change of mind about seeking PDP's nomination for the 2007 poll. "As soon as he finishes his consultation, he will formally declare (his intent to run for office) at a rally."

Babangida, who is a Muslim from Nigeria's north, seized power in 1985 and for eight years ruled the country, which is the third largest exporter of oil to the U.S. He was forced out of power after annulling the 1993 election, in which a Muslim candidate from the south was in the lead.

An interim government then took over from Babangida and later General Sani Abacha took power and ruled Nigeria with brutality until his death in 1998. The following year Nigeria held elections and returned former military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo to power, who went on to win re-election for a final term in a 2003 vote marred by widespread rigging and violence. Obasanjo has been a key backer of current ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua.

Key politicians have started positioning themselves ahead of polls expected to be held early next year. The PDP's leadership usually rotates its presidential candidates among Nigeria's Christians and Muslims.

Yar'Adua, a Muslim from Nigeria's north has been ailing for more than five months, a condition that has fueled debate about whether another Muslim should be the PDP's presidential candidate in 2011.

Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the country's south, is acting president.


Seattle Times