Nigerian President Will Not Face Main Rivals at Final Debate

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan Wednesday takes part in the final presidential debate ahead of three weeks of nationwide elections. But he will not be facing his biggest rivals, who are boycotting¹ the event because Jonathan refused to take part in an earlier debate.
President Jonathan will not be facing his biggest rivals in this debate because he declined an invitation to a debate earlier this month that included his main challenger - former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari - along with former anti-corruption² chief Nuhu Ribadu and the All Nigeria People's Party candidate Ibrahim Shekarau.
At that debate, they criticized the president for not showing up to defend a ruling party that has won every presidential contest since Nigeria's return to civilian³ rule in 1999.
Presidential, legislative⁴, and gubernatorial candidates are wrapping up their campaigns ahead of nationwide elections in Africa's most populous⁵ country. Issues of security and the economy have dominated the campaign. Human Rights Watch says the candidates are not paying enough attention to issues of communal⁶ violence and corruption.
Election observers say they will be watching for signs of violence between Muslims and Christians⁸ in northern Nigeria, especially as Jonathan is from the predominantly Christian⁷ south and his three main challengers are from the mainly-Muslim north.
"I am hopeful that the level of violence will be contained such that overall the elections will remain credible⁹," says former Botswana President Festus Mogae, who heads the Commonwealth¹⁰ observer team. "We should not be too excited and take isolated¹¹ incidents of violence as affecting the whole outcome of all the elections."
Mogae says election observers and Nigerians will be looking for a cleaner vote than the 2007 contest, which was marred¹² by ballot-stuffing and fraud.
"We will consider among other things whether or not conditions exist for free and competitive elections, the electoral commission is independent and effective," he said. "The voter register provides for universal suffrage¹³, state institutions and public media are impartial¹⁴, there is a level playing field in the campaign and that the campaign is free of violence, voters are free to express their will and the results process is transparent¹⁵."
President Jonathan is promising¹⁶ free, fair, and credible elections that he says will restore Nigeria to its rightful place in the international community.
Evelyn Eve Akpotu is a local co-ordinator for voter education in Delta¹⁷ State. She says voter workshops have focused on the mechanics of proper voting and the importance of preventing politicians from trying to buy the vote.
"They need to vote once because if you vote more than once your vote will be canceled," Akpotu said. "And underage must not be part of the voting. We also educate the people on the need not to collect money before voting. They should be sure of the candidate they are voting for and be sure that that is a credible candidate who can bring development to their communities."
She is hopeful the vote will be peaceful despite several bomb attacks at campaign events over the last month.
"There are some youths who are still not understanding what it means not to be violent. In any area where there is violence the vote might be canceled, so it is better for them to be calm and do the right thing. So we are expecting peace in the election," Akpotu adds.
Security forces are deploying¹⁸ across the country ahead of Saturday's first round of voting to prevent further violence.

1 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

2 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

5 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

6 communal   

adj.公有的，公共的，公社的，公社制的

参考例句：

• There was a communal toilet on the landing for the four flats.在楼梯平台上有一处公共卫生间供4套公寓使用。
• The toilets and other communal facilities were in a shocking state.厕所及其他公共设施的状况极其糟糕。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

9 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

10 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

11 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

12 marred   

adj. 被损毁, 污损的

参考例句：

• The game was marred by the behaviour of drunken fans. 喝醉了的球迷行为不轨，把比赛给搅了。
• Bad diction marred the effectiveness of his speech. 措词不当影响了他演说的效果。

13 suffrage   

n.投票，选举权，参政权

参考例句：

• The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance.妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。
• The voters gave their suffrage to him.投票人都投票选他。

14 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

15 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

16 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

17 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

18 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。