On April 16, Nigeria’s highest court ruled that one of the presidential candidates had been removed from the ballot illegally, and ordered him reinstated. The presidential election is scheduled for April 21. The Electoral Commission said it could cope, even though millions of ballots had already been printed without his name. The excluded candidate is Atiku Abubakar, the current vice-president. He was removed from the ballot last month because the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had ruled that he is corrupt. The Commission removed other candidates for lesser office from the ballot as well, but critics noted that most of the candidates removed by the Commission are opposed to the governing Peoples Democratic Party.

Atiku Abubakar is the presidential candidate of the newly-formed Action Congress Party. His chief opponent is Umaru Yar’ Adua. Both are Muslim.