Nigeria's opposition parties are to meet to agree on a common strategy to fight the outcome of last Saturday's flawed presidential elections.
 Saturday's election was "a charade", said local observers | Major opposition candidates Atiku Abubakar and Muhammadu Buhari rejected the results and called for protests. They have also urged parliament to annul the polls and call for a re-run. But the powerful Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has advised against any mass protests, saying it is best to head for the law courts. Many local and international observers say the election which was won by the governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was flawed.  | UMARU YAR'ADUA Northern Muslim, from Katsina State Little known until named PDP candidate last year Set to be Nigeria's first elected university educated leader | Although the bishops say Nigerians' votes had been "abused, traumatised and brutalised", they also say the answer does not lie in violent protests. "Two evils never make a right. To cause chaos; to cause people to lose their lives and property is definitely wrong" Archbishop Alaba George told the BBC. Mr Yar'Adua gained 24.6m votes, against 6.6m for his closest challenger, Mr Buhari and 2.6m for vice-president turned opposition candidate Mr Abubakar. Outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo has defended the organisation of the vote. "No elections in the world will ever be regarded as perfect... You cannot use European standards to judge the situation in a developing country," he told the BBC. The presidential poll was held alongside elections for the National Assembly and Senate. Nigeria - one of the world's biggest oil producers - is of key strategic interest to both the West and the growing economies of the East. But despite the country's huge oil wealth, much of the population lives on less than $1 a day. | 
