Nigerian governor loses appeal in vote rigging case

ENUGU, Nigeria, Mar 15 (Reuters) The governor of the volatile southeastern Nigerian state of Anambra lost an appeal today against a ruling that the 2003 election in the state was rigged and he did not win.

The Anambra case has dragged into the open political corruption and thuggery which threaten fragile democratic reforms in Africa's most populous country.

Governor Chris Ngige, the candidate of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in 2003, had appealed against a ruling by an election tribunal last August that an opposition candidate had won a free and fair vote but the result was rigged.

''The Independent National Electoral Commission erred in declaring Chris Ngige winner of the 2003 gubernatorial election in Anambra,'' Justice Rabiu Muhammed said in the appeal ruling.

Ngige remained in office while he fought the appeal, arguing that the first ruling was a veiled attempt by President Olusegun Obasanjo to unseat him because of a dispute with PDP ''godfathers'', or power brokers.

today's ruling by a court of appeal in Enugu, in a neighbouring state, means Peter Obi of the All People's Grand Alliance should become governor of Anambra.

However, Nigerian politicians frequently resort to strongarm tactics and court rulings are not always obeyed. It was not immediately clear if Ngige would go without a further battle.

Independent observers reported widespread rigging and political violence during the 2003 polls, which gave Obasanjo a second four-year term at the helm of Africa's top oil exporter.

But the Supreme Court last July rejected an opposition challenge to Obasanjo's overall victory.

The trouble in Anambra stemmed from a fallout soon after the election between Ngige and Chris Uba, his main sponsor. Uba, who donates generously to the PDP and whose brother is a close adviser to Obasanjo, has been trying to unseat Ngige ever since.

The power struggle between the two men caused riots in the state.

Paid thugs controlled by one PDP faction set fire to government buildings and tried to kill Ngige in November 2004.

At the height of the Anambra crisis, Obasanjo said Ngige and Uba had admitted the 2003 vote had been rigged, and likened them to ''two armed robbers that conspired to loot a house and after bringing out the loot, one decided to do the other in''.

Yet the Anambra crisis also reflected badly on Obasanjo, who has ruled Nigeria since it returned to civilian government in 1999 after 15 years of army dictatorship.

The PDP had expelled both Ngige and Uba, but last December it readmitted Uba citing his ''good behaviour''. Ngige remains a party outcast.

Uba had written to the party to plead for readmission, arguing that he had shown remorse and that he had handed over his house in Anambra for use as the PDP's headquarters in the state, free of charge.

REUTERS SHR RN2009