Nigerian president appeals for calm ahead of elections

Nigeria’s president deployed tens of thousands of police and army troops on foot and in armoured cars today, appealing for calm on the eve of countrywide municipal elections already marred by assassinations and other attacks.

An international rights group warned a “climate of impunity” could kindle further violence in Africa’s most populous nation of 126 million, where many complain true democracy remains elusive five years after elected civilians replaced brutal military rulers.

“We must all eschew violence … and learn to accept election results with equanimity,” President Olusegun Obasanjo said . “The world is watching us, and our conduct would go a long way to putting a definitive stamp on our full commitment to democratic process.”

New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Nigeria’s government to ensure Saturday’s vote in 800 local districts is less bloody than general elections held last year, which left over 100 dead and many others injured.

Election violence fears and legal disputes have prompted organisers to cancel votes in several hundred districts – known as Local Government Areas – including parts of the turbulence-prone port city of Warri in the oil-rich Delta.

“It is not in the interests of anybody to hold elections there, otherwise we might set the whole place ablaze,” said Abel Oshevire, a spokesman for Delta state.

The local elections have been repeatedly postponed since 2002, when Nigeria’s state governors appointed hand-picked ”caretaker” municipal councils to replace members elected in 1999.