News / Africa
Nigerian Muslims not happy with polls
19 Apr 2011 at 05:30hrs | Views
Abuja - Angry opposition supporters in Nigeria's Muslim north set fire to homes bearing ruling party banners on Monday and heavy gunfire rang out in several towns as election officials released results showing the Christian incumbent had gained an insurmountable lead.
The violence cut across 13 states, leaving people hiding in their homes. Many expected casualties, though federal officials declined to offer any figures for fear of further stoking tensions. The Nigerian Red Cross said that 276 had been wounded and 15 000 displaced.
Results from Saturday's election released live on national television indicated President Goodluck Jonathan had a commanding lead of more than 10 million votes with only two states left to be announced. The Muslim north had largely voted for former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari's party brought a formal complaint on Monday afternoon to the nation's electoral commission over vote tallies, alleging massive rigging in Jonathan's homeland. The letter also alleged that the computer software used to tally results had been tampered with in northern states to favour the ruling party.
"What is being exhibited to the world is not collated from polling units but... a lot of manipulations," the letter read.
In a statement, the federal police blamed the violence on "persons who failed to accept the results," denying it came from religious or ethnic roots. Election officials said they would finish releasing election results later on Monday regardless of the ongoing violence but they still had not announced a winner by 19:00 local (18:00 GMT).
Witnesses said youths in the northern city of Kano were setting fires to homes that bore Jonathan party banners. Heavy gunfire also could be heard. An Associated Press reporter there saw hundreds of youths carrying wooden planks in the street, shouting "Only Buhari" in the local Hausa language.
"What I am looking for now is rescue, the mob is still outside. I need rescue," said Mark Asu-Obi, who was trapped inside his Kano home with his wife and three children. "There are hoodlums all over the place. It's not just my place that they are attacking. I am not a politician. I am an independent observer."
Uprising
In Kaduna, home to the oil-rich nation's vice president, angry young men burned tyres in the streets and threw stones at police and soldiers trying to restore order, witnesses said.
"Right now, I'm holed up in my room. There's gunshots everywhere," said Shehu Sani, a civil rights leader. "They are firing and killing people on the street."
Kaduna state police spokesperson Aminu Lawal described the fighting there as an "uprising." In neighbouring Katsina state, a mob attacked a prison and freed 42 inmates, police spokesperson Abubakar Mohammed said.
Federal emergency management agency spokesperson Yushua Shuaib declined to release casualty figures out of fears it would further stoke sectarian violence.
"Such a thing can encourage a reprisal attack," he said.
Over the weekend, opposition supporters also rioted in the northeastern state of Gombe. Protesters burned down the house of the local chair of the ruling party, two hotels and at least two buses there. The rioters accused Gombe's ruling party government of rigging the results to ensure that Jonathan got at least 25% of the vote.
Police chief Suleiman Lawal said on Sunday that there had been a "complete breakdown of law and order" there.
Nigeria's elections have long been marred by violence and rigging. But voting in the Saturday presidential election had been largely peaceful apart from a hotel blast that wounded eight people and the fatal shooting of a police officer at a polling station.
Secular state
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 Shari'ah law in place, though the area remains under the control of secular state governments.
Thousands have been killed in Muslim-Christian violence in the past decade, but the roots of the sectarian conflict are often embedded in struggles for political and economic dominance.
Jonathan, who became president after his Muslim predecessor died in office last year, has long been considered the front-runner. His ruling People's Democratic Party has dominated politics in the West African giant since it became a democracy 12 years ago.
However, the country's Muslim north remains cold to Jonathan as the Christian from the south who took over after the death of the country's elected Muslim leader.
Many of the north's elite wanted the ruling party to honour an unwritten power-sharing agreement calling for a Muslim candidate to run in this election, yet Jonathan prevailed in the party's primary.
The violence cut across 13 states, leaving people hiding in their homes. Many expected casualties, though federal officials declined to offer any figures for fear of further stoking tensions. The Nigerian Red Cross said that 276 had been wounded and 15 000 displaced.
Results from Saturday's election released live on national television indicated President Goodluck Jonathan had a commanding lead of more than 10 million votes with only two states left to be announced. The Muslim north had largely voted for former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari's party brought a formal complaint on Monday afternoon to the nation's electoral commission over vote tallies, alleging massive rigging in Jonathan's homeland. The letter also alleged that the computer software used to tally results had been tampered with in northern states to favour the ruling party.
"What is being exhibited to the world is not collated from polling units but... a lot of manipulations," the letter read.
In a statement, the federal police blamed the violence on "persons who failed to accept the results," denying it came from religious or ethnic roots. Election officials said they would finish releasing election results later on Monday regardless of the ongoing violence but they still had not announced a winner by 19:00 local (18:00 GMT).
Witnesses said youths in the northern city of Kano were setting fires to homes that bore Jonathan party banners. Heavy gunfire also could be heard. An Associated Press reporter there saw hundreds of youths carrying wooden planks in the street, shouting "Only Buhari" in the local Hausa language.
"What I am looking for now is rescue, the mob is still outside. I need rescue," said Mark Asu-Obi, who was trapped inside his Kano home with his wife and three children. "There are hoodlums all over the place. It's not just my place that they are attacking. I am not a politician. I am an independent observer."
Uprising
In Kaduna, home to the oil-rich nation's vice president, angry young men burned tyres in the streets and threw stones at police and soldiers trying to restore order, witnesses said.
"Right now, I'm holed up in my room. There's gunshots everywhere," said Shehu Sani, a civil rights leader. "They are firing and killing people on the street."
Kaduna state police spokesperson Aminu Lawal described the fighting there as an "uprising." In neighbouring Katsina state, a mob attacked a prison and freed 42 inmates, police spokesperson Abubakar Mohammed said.
Federal emergency management agency spokesperson Yushua Shuaib declined to release casualty figures out of fears it would further stoke sectarian violence.
"Such a thing can encourage a reprisal attack," he said.
Over the weekend, opposition supporters also rioted in the northeastern state of Gombe. Protesters burned down the house of the local chair of the ruling party, two hotels and at least two buses there. The rioters accused Gombe's ruling party government of rigging the results to ensure that Jonathan got at least 25% of the vote.
Police chief Suleiman Lawal said on Sunday that there had been a "complete breakdown of law and order" there.
Nigeria's elections have long been marred by violence and rigging. But voting in the Saturday presidential election had been largely peaceful apart from a hotel blast that wounded eight people and the fatal shooting of a police officer at a polling station.
Secular state
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 Shari'ah law in place, though the area remains under the control of secular state governments.
Thousands have been killed in Muslim-Christian violence in the past decade, but the roots of the sectarian conflict are often embedded in struggles for political and economic dominance.
Jonathan, who became president after his Muslim predecessor died in office last year, has long been considered the front-runner. His ruling People's Democratic Party has dominated politics in the West African giant since it became a democracy 12 years ago.
However, the country's Muslim north remains cold to Jonathan as the Christian from the south who took over after the death of the country's elected Muslim leader.
Many of the north's elite wanted the ruling party to honour an unwritten power-sharing agreement calling for a Muslim candidate to run in this election, yet Jonathan prevailed in the party's primary.
Source - AP
