2 Candidates Barred From Nigeria Vote : Africa: Nation’s military ruler announces new presidential elections to replace June 12 balloting he annulled.

The nation’s military ruler on Saturday announced new Nigerian presidential elections to replace the June 12 balloting he annulled, and he barred the two candidates who ran earlier from running again.

Gen. Ibrahim Babangida made the startling announcement in his first nationwide television address since he abruptly voided the election, which was contested by two wealthy friends whose parties he created.

He gave no date for the elections. He said two new candidates would be picked from the two existing political parties by the end of July and a civilian government would be in place on Aug. 27 as he previously had promised.

Babangida was harshly criticized by the West when he annulled the election Wednesday. The United States suspended about $1 million of its $22.8-million aid, expelled Nigeria’s military attache from Washington and recalled two American diplomats from Nigeria.

Babangida took power in a coup in 1985 and has repeatedly broken his promises to return the country to civilian rule.

“History would bear witness that as an administration we have always striven, in all our policy decisions, to build the foundation of lasting democracy . . . not a temporary show of excitement and manipulation by an over-articulate section of the elite and its captive audience,” he said.

The announcement is a blow to billionaire publisher and shipping mogul Moshood K.O. Abiola, who was leading banker Bashir Othman Tofa in the presidential balloting when a federal court ordered the results suppressed because of complaints by Babangida supporters that the vote was rigged.

Babangida then annulled the election, citing a flurry of contradictory court rulings on whether the balloting was valid. He has been accused of manipulating the controversy to remain in power, and few of his promises are believed.

Abiola is disqualified by a new requirement by Babangida that a candidate must have belonged to a party for a year. Tofa, 46, is banned by a new rule requiring candidates to be at least 50 years old.

Babangida said his ruling military council has evidence the two candidates spent more than $60 million buying votes.

“Use of money was again the major source of undermining the electoral process,” he said, recalling he had annulled two primaries last year for the same reason.

Even though the elections were widely ridiculed, many Nigerians believed that any move to civilian rule was preferable to the repression of the generals.

Nigeria, a nation of 88.5 million people, has been plagued by labor unrest, massive government corruption, and violent feuds.

Nigeria’s succession of authoritarian rulers have used corruption as an excuse for coups in a nation where graft is institutionalized.

Babangida is the latest in a series of military dictators who have ruled Nigeria for 23 of its 33 years of independence from Britain, and for the past 10 years.