Nigerian Court Rules Candidate Was Illegally Excluded

The highest Nigerian court ruled yesterday that opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar was illegally excluded from last Saturday's presidential election. It is unclear whether the government—returned to power by a landslide in the voting—will comply with the ruling, the Times reports.

Abubakar and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo were once allies, but broke publicly with each other after Obasanjo changed the constitution to allow himself to run for a third term. Since then they have been trading charges of corruption, as turmoil mounts. "Democracy is the only credible option for this country. They have to make this work," says Nigeria analyst Nnamdi K. Obasi. (More Nigeria stories.)