Nigeria Leader Faces Impeachment

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Nigeria Leader Faces Impeachment

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo faced the prospect of impeachment Tuesday, as the Senate voted to investigate allegations that he broke government spending laws.

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Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo faced the prospect of impeachment Tuesday, as the Senate voted to investigate allegations that he broke government spending laws.

But the president appeared to have won some breathing space, as lawmakers from the House of Representatives failed to carry out a threat to start impeachment proceedings by Tuesday if Obasanjo did not resign.

Obasanjo has been accused by lawmakers of incompetence, ignoring budgets, traveling too much, and failing to control spiraling violence.

Obasanjo's Cabinet said the charges have no substance and portrayed parliament's motion as an attack on democracy itself.

Analysts say the actions are designed to damage Obasanjo politically but doubt it will actually lead to his removal.

Obasanjo described the House of Representatives' threat as "a joke taken a little bit too far" in a televised address Sunday.

Obasanjo, whose 1999 election ended decades of brutal and corrupt military rule, will run for a second term in presidential elections tentatively expected to be held in April. He has warned of the danger of growing violence as politicians jockey for position ahead of the polls.

More than 70 million Nigerians live in dire poverty, according to the United Nations. The country has also been plagued by ethnic, religious and political clashes that have killed thousands of people in recent years.

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