Nigeria Sets New Election Date for July 31

Nigeria’s military dictatorship, criticized for annulling a presidential election to restore civilian rule, announced Sunday that a new vote will be held July 31.

But the party that apparently won the June 12 election promised to boycott the new vote. No other candidates have yet announced their intention to run.

Military ruler Gen. Ibrahim Babangida claimed that the previous election was fraudulent even though he organized it. He has barred the two candidates who ran earlier from competing in the new election.

Babangida, who took power in a coup in 1985, has said he would relinquish power to a civilian by Aug. 27. He has failed to live up to previous such promises, however.

Human rights activists, led by a physician jailed over the weekend, planned to march today in Lagos to protest Babangida’s annulment.

Beko Ransome-Kuti was arrested Friday and charged with possession of seditious material, which he described as press releases about today’s march. He was released without explanation Saturday, he said.

“They are worried about the march we intend to hold,” said Ransome-Kuti, who leads the Campaign for Democracy, a coalition of 42 human rights and grass-roots groups.

Scores of other activists were rounded up by the secret police over the weekend as the government tried to keep a lid on dissent. It was unclear Sunday how many remained jailed.

Moshood K. O. Abiola, a publishing and transportation magnate, apparently won the June 12 vote. A former Babangida ally, he has denounced the decision to scrap the election.