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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan delivers a speech in Port Harcourt on 14 May 2010
Nigerian lawmakers approved Muslim politician, Namadi Sambo, as the new vice1 president of Africa's most populous2 nation Tuesday. President Goodluck Jonathan's choice of a deputy with little nationwide experience raises speculation3 that Mr. Jonathan will run in next year's presidential election and challenge an informal power-sharing deal between Muslims and Christians5 in the country.
There were several high-profile candidates for vice president, including Nigeria's national security advisor6, the secretary to the Government of the Federation7 and its senate president. Any of those men would have quickly become the ruling-party frontrunner for next year's vote, because an unofficial regional power sharing deal precludes8 President Jonathan from running because he is from southern Nigeria.
But Mr. Jonathan nominated Kaduna state governor Namadi Sambo -- a quieter, less-obviously ambitious politician with a solid record of financial management and little nationwide experience.
Mohammed Namadi Sambo
That has added to speculation that Mr. Jonathan may challenge the regional power sharing deal and run for president himself.
"The man who is best qualified9 to serve this country should be elected president, irrespective of where he is from," said Social activist10 Chukwunyere Onyinye.
Onyinye is from Nigeria's southern Delta11 State. He says politicians across the country have manipulated the north/south divide for their own gain.
"The people you brand as northerners are actually a clique12, a clique of power hegemony that have not even held well for the generality of the people of northern Nigeria," he added. "And, in the south, those who also portend13 or purport14 to speak for the people of southern Nigeria do not honestly represent the interests of those people. So broadly, this country is one."
One of the reasons this power-sharing deal came into place was because southern politicians long complained of political dominance by the north.
Musa Elayo Abdullahi is a former minister of state for justice and a ruling-party leader from the north. He says southern leaders should not complain if Mr. Jonathan breaks the deal now, before the north is allowed to complete what would have been President Yar'Adua's second term.
"So what we have now is not a complete process," said Abdullahi. "If today that is aborted15, then it simply means that tomorrow nobody will complain of political domination. Both the north and southern part of the country have enough mature leaders to run for the presidency16 of this country. The presidency of the country should be open to every Nigerian and Nigerians should elect whoever they want to govern over them, irrespective of where he comes from."
Political scientist Isitoah Ozoemene says Nigeria's informal power-sharing agreement denies voters the right to choose among the best candidates.
"The issue of zoning is not a very proper thing to do," said Ozoemene. "That is the truth of the matter. The issue of saying a particular candidate who should be in government, at a particular point in time, must come from one part of the country leaves us with not the best set of persons."
Nigeria's religious and ethnic17 divisions are a political reality. If President Jonathan decides to run, ruling-party member Ovie Joseph believes he will choose a northern Muslim as his running mate, to balance the ticket.
"Today now things like that have been happening. When you have the Christian4 at the head, you have the Muslim at the other side. When you have the Muslim at the head, you have the Christian on the other side. I think that is the only way that people feel the question is balanced," explained Joseph.
If President Jonathan wins the ruling-party's nomination18 for 2011, he will hard to beat. That is somewhat easier now that he gets to choose a new ruling-party chairman.
But if the party chooses a northern nominee19, in keeping with the regional power sharing agreement, President Jonathan could still run for another party. Or, pending20 electoral reforms, as an independent.
That would be considerably21 more difficult, not only because he would be running against the ruling party. Northern Nigeria is more homogenous22 and much easier to organize behind a single candidate. Southern Nigeria is far more fractious and Mr. Jonathan would likely split that vote with several other candidates.
1 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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2 populous | |
adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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3 speculation | |
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机 | |
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4 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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5 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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6 advisor | |
n.顾问,指导老师,劝告者 | |
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7 federation | |
n.同盟,联邦,联合,联盟,联合会 | |
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8 precludes | |
v.阻止( preclude的第三人称单数 );排除;妨碍;使…行不通 | |
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9 qualified | |
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的 | |
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10 activist | |
n.活动分子,积极分子 | |
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11 delta | |
n.(流的)角洲 | |
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12 clique | |
n.朋党派系,小集团 | |
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13 portend | |
v.预兆,预示;给…以警告 | |
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14 purport | |
n.意义,要旨,大要;v.意味著,做为...要旨,要领是... | |
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15 aborted | |
adj.流产的,失败的v.(使)流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 );(使)(某事物)中止;(因故障等而)(使)(飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等)中断飞行;(使)(飞行任务等)中途失败 | |
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16 presidency | |
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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17 ethnic | |
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的 | |
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18 nomination | |
n.提名,任命,提名权 | |
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19 nominee | |
n.被提名者;被任命者;被推荐者 | |
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20 pending | |
prep.直到,等待…期间;adj.待定的;迫近的 | |
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21 considerably | |
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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22 homogenous | |
adj.同类的,同质的,纯系的 | |
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