- Olusegun Obasanjo secured second term in office as president
- Car bomb at Nigerian army barracks killed three
According to Dwight D. Eisenhower, the history of free men is never really written by chance but by choice; their choice.
When we reflect on the past or journey through time, we don’t do it for fun or excitement—we do it for research purpose.
WITHIN NIGERIA highlights two notable events that occured on April 19 in the history of this country, Nigeria in an effort to create awareness for enlightenment purpose.
Olusegun Obasanjo secured second term in office as president
On this day, April 19 in 2003, Olusegun Obasanjo, a former head of state and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the 2003 presidential election by defeating his close rival, Muhammadu Buhari, a former head of state of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).
Recall that Obasanjo scored 2,642 votes, more than 75 percent of total votes cast by delegates, leaving his closest rival Alex Ekwueme, a former vice president, trailing with 611 votes – just over 17 percent. The other contestants, Abubakar Rimi, a former state governor, and ex-party chairman, Barnabas Gemade, scored a paltry 159 votes and 17 votes respectively.
According to the official figures, Obasanjo won 62 percent of the vote, followed by Muhammad Buhari, of the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party [ANPP], with 32 percent.
The ANPP refused to endorse the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
ANPP Chairman Don Etiebet declared that the ruling People’s Democratic Party had stolen the election.
The electoral commission said more than 42 million votes were cast, but as many as 2.5 million ballots were declared invalid.
Car bomb at Nigerian army barracks killed three
On this day, April 19 in 2006, a car bomb at an army barracks in Port Harcourt killed three people on Wednesday night.
According to a military source, militants detonated the car bomb which killed three people.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), whose attacks on the world’s eighth-largest oil exporter have cut output by a quarter, threatened in an email to carry out more such attacks on oil industry targets and individuals.
“The explosion shattered many vehicles. The whole place is littered with wreckage,” said a military source who lives in the Bori barracks in Port Harcourt, asking not to be named.
“Three people died and several others sustained injuries and they were taken to the military hospital.”
Mend, which has demanded more local autonomy over the Niger Delta’s oil revenues, said they detonated the bomb by remote control.
They said the attack was “symbolic rather than strategic”, and served as a warning that the military was unable to protect itself, let alone oil workers at fields dotted around the vast region of mangrove-lined creeks in Nigeria’s far south.
The group has waged a four-month campaign of sabotage and kidnapping against Africa’s top oil producer, forcing companies to cut production by 550 000 barrels per day and helping drive world oil prices to record highs.
