Elections were a charade

Re “The upside in Nigeria,” editorial, April 24

Once again, incompetents and global plutocrats will profit from the April follies that passed for the recent elections in Nigeria, but The Times shouldn’t have a place in the cheering section. The elections were merely a charade put on by pseudo-leaders given to the temptation of retaining the rigid class culture of kleptocrats in office. Why would Nigerians stand up to President Olusegun Obasanjo’s attempt for an unconstitutional third term if they didn’t know any better? Certainly the 1993 elections, universally adjudged free and fair but annulled by this same cabal, testify to the true yearnings of Nigerians for representative democracy. Public-interest journalism should have the courage to condemn their subterfuge and not play the cheerleader, or else we all lose.

ADEBOYE OSENI

Gardena