Everyone takes to the streets. Yesterday the first protests began in the northern city of Kano, where thousands of demonstrators from the opposition took to the streets. The police intervened using tear gas to break up the crowd. The two main contenders, Mohammed Buhari and Vice-president Atiku Abubakar, have decided to bring the issue to justice. “We are taking the matter to court”, said Tom Ekimi today, joint spokesperson for the two candidates. Utomi has taken it further stating that he does not intend to stop at demonstrations, in an interview with the BBC he stated, “We have seen revolutions all over the world, from the Ukraine to the Philippines. We need to do just this”. Member of the European Parliament and organiser of the election in Nigeria, Max Van den Berg, sheds lights on the affair: “The presidential elections in Nigeria cannot be considered legitimate, and they are far from basic international democratic criteria. Today local daily newspaper, The Nation, called the country ‘the laughing stock of Africa’ adding that ‘it is certainly not what Nigeria dreamed of’.

Violence. The elections have been characterised by the lack of ballot cards and by the abundance of deaths throughout the country. An EU report noted that in the days following the voting at least 200 people would have lost their lives following clashes between different factions. In the city of Kaduna on Friday, a vehicle containing completed ballot cards in favour of winner Yar’Adua’s People’s Democratic Party was intercepted. Moreover, the lack of ballot cards has stopped many citizens from voting, throughout entire regions according to the Transition Monitoring Group (TMC). Three pieces of evidence prove it, guessed upon by the Berg formula which referred to the election as ‘a parody’.

The new president. Umaru Yar’Adua did not lose any face over the amount of criticism and today in his first public speech as president he launched a general appeal: “The competition is over and now we must abandon our differences in the interest of the good of the people”. To journalists who asked what he thought about the criticism from international observers, he replied, “what has just taken place was one of the best elections that Nigeria had ever organised”. This vote should have guaranteed – for the first time since the country’s independence – a democratic political transition. This will now wait until next time.