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Obasanjo takes lead in Nigeria election

AP, Lagos
President Olusegun Obasanjo took a commanding lead in early returns from voting that could bring Nigeria its first transition from one civilian government to another, but an opposition leader charged widespread fraud and threatened mass protests.
With more than 14 million votes counted Sunday in 21 of Nigeria's 36 states and the federal capital territory, Obasanjo had 69 percent of the votes compared to 26 percent for Muhammadu Buhari, a former ally.
Opposition leaders accused the government of rigging the ballot.
"This is a massive rigging. The masses are going to react. They will fight," Francis Erube, an official in Buhari's party, told The Associated Press. "Obasanjo's people want to mess up this country. But the people will are not going to allow them to do that.
The election was a major test of whether democracy has taken root since Obasanjo was elected four years ago, ending 15 years of brutal military rule.
Nigeria - Africa's most populous nation - has never seen a civilian government successfully hand over power to another. Though it is one of the world's largest oil exporters, it is desperately poor and has a history of coups and unrest.
Obasanjo was once a military ruler,
but he traded his uniform for traditional robes and ran for election in 1999. In Saturday's vote, he faced 19 challengers, including Buhari. The two former army men were once close colleagues, but their relationship soured after Obasanjo accused Buhari of mismanagement.
Fearing unrest, soldiers and police patrolled the streets of the northern cities of Kaduna and Jos. But in one northern city where violence had been feared - Kano - Buhari supporters launched street celebrations, not protests, after news of an apparent lead by his party's governorship candidate.
The vote was marred by a shooting at a polling booth in the oil-producing Niger Delta, the scene of a month of ethnic and political violence that has left more than 100 people dead. Six were killed in the attack, election monitors said.
Nearly half of Nigeria's 126 million people registered for the ballot in 36 states and the capital. It was unclear how many voted, though officials said turnout was strong.
Nigeria's election commission promised to cancel results in areas with proven cases of fraud.
"Where there is substantial violence and boxes disappear, the results will not be accepted," stressed Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, commission secretary, who declared the ballot a "vast improvement" over previous elections.