Nigerian election marred by violence

Nigeria’s Muslim north erupts in anger as Christian incumbent Goodluck Jonathan takes commanding lead in presidential election Angry opposition supporters in Nigeria’s Muslim north set fire to homes bearing ruling party banners and heavy gunfire rang out in several towns as officials released presidential election results on Monday showing the Christian incumbent Goodluck Jonathan had gained an insurmountable lead. Results were still pending in four states from Saturday’s election but tallies released live on national television indicated Jonathan had a commanding lead of more than 11m votes with about 6m left to be announced. The Muslim north had largely voted for former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. Witnesses said youths in the northern city of Kano were setting fire to homes that bore the banners of Jonathan’s People’s Democratic party. Associated Press saw hundreds of youths carrying wooden planks in the street, shouting “Only Buhari” in the Hausa language. In Kaduna, home to the oil-rich nation’s vice president Namadi Sambo, angry young men burned tyres in the streets and threw stones at police and soldiers trying to restore order, according to witnesses. Shehu Sani, a civil rights leader, said: “I’m holed up in my room. There’s gunshots everywhere. They are firing and killing people on the street.” Kaduna state police spokesman Aminu Lawal described the fighting as an uprising. Federal emergency management agency spokesman Yushua Shuaib declined to release casualty figures, fearing the details would further stoke sectarian violence. “Such a thing can encourage a reprisal attack,” he said. Election officials said they would finish releasing election results throughout Monday regardless of the violence. Over the weekend, opposition supporters rioted in the north-eastern state of Gombe. Protesters burned down the house of the local chairman of the ruling party, two hotels and at least two buses. The rioters accused Gombe’s ruling party government of rigging the results to ensure Jonathan got at least 25% of the vote. Police chief Suleiman Lawal said on Sunday there had been a “complete breakdown of law and order”. Nigeria’s elections have long been marred by violence and rigging. On Saturday, a hotel blast in Kaduna wounded eight people and a police officer was shot dead at a Maiduguri polling station. Nigeria, a nation of 150 million people, is divided between the Christian-dominated south and the Muslim north. A dozen states across Nigeria’s north have Islamic Sharia law in place, although the area remains under the control of secular state governments. Thousands have been killed in Muslim-Christian violence in the last decade, but the roots of the sectarian conflict are often embedded in struggles for political and economic dominance. The country’s Muslim north regards Jonathan as the Christian from the south who took over after the death of the country’s elected Muslim leader. The People’s Democratic party has dominated Nigerian politics since it became a democracy 12 years ago. Many of the north’s elite wanted the ruling party to honour an unwritten power-sharing agreement calling for a Muslim candidate to run for president, yet Jonathan prevailed in the party’s primary election. Nigeria Islam guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 18, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.