2007年VOA标准英语-Nigerian Vice President Warns of Threat to Demo

By Benjamin Robertson
London
21 February 2007

Nigerian Vice¹ President Atiku Abubakar says that his country is heading for autocracy² and dictatorship unless voters support him in the upcoming presidential elections. For VOA in London, Benjamin Robertson has more.

A frontrunner for the upcoming presidential elections, Atiku Abubakar is warning of serious consequences for the country's democracy, calling the April elections a 'do or die affair'.

 
Atiku Abubakar at Chatham House
Speaking Tuesday in London at the international research organization Chatham House, he told a packed audience he feared outgoing president and former military general Olusegen Obansanjo would suspend the constitution and make himself president for life. Under the constitution a president may only serve two terms.

"Today the Nigerian state is not functioning properly and is in grave danger of failing as a nation state," he said. "Its political structures and very institutions that support a natural democracy including judiciary and press are under constant and regular threat."

As vice president in Obansanjo's government, the two men have been at loggerheads since last year after Abubakar opposed plans to amend³ the constitution and allow Mr. Obansanjo a third term.

 
Olusegun Obasanjo 
Accused by Obansanjo supporters of corruption⁴, Akubakar was recently stripped of his powers as vice president and has had to stand as a presidential candidate for an opposition⁵ party.

A surprise Supreme⁶ Court ruling on Tuesday reinstated him as vice president, saying the president had no legal power to remove him.

Asked during the occasionally heated exchange in London why as vice president he had not done more to solve issues of endemic corruption, he replied that he had been shut out of the policy making process by President Obasanjo and was never invited to Cabinet meetings.

If elected president, Abubakar promised to solve the problems of the oil-rich Niger delta⁷ by bringing stakeholders together and appointing a Cabinet minister with special responsibility for the region. He also said he would invest in infrastructure⁸ and law enforcement.

Not all observers were convinced by Abubakar's doomsday prophecies. Tom Cargill runs the Africa Program at Chatham House and says that though the elections will be a challenge he is optimistic about the country's future.

"I think these elections will be a key testing point, but I am not getting the kind of apocalyptic⁹ warnings that I seem to be getting six months ago when people were talking about blood in the streets and collapse¹⁰ of Nigeria," he said.

Now returning to Nigeria, Abubakar's next challenge will be to get through immigration. He says he expects to be arrested at the airport upon his arrival, even though his newly re-instated office of vice president grants him immunity¹¹ from prosecution¹².

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 autocracy   

n.独裁政治，独裁政府

参考例句：

• The revolution caused the overthrow of the autocracy.这场革命导致了独裁政体的结束。
• Many poor countries are abandoning autocracy.很多贫穷国家都在放弃独裁统治。

3 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

4 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。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 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。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 apocalyptic   

adj.预示灾祸的，启示的

参考例句：

• The air is chill and stagnant,the language apocalyptic.空气寒冷而污浊，语言则是《启示录》式的。
• Parts of the ocean there look just absolutely apocalyptic.海洋的很多区域看上去完全像是世界末日。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

11 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

12 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。