Election riots continue in Nigeria

Riots broke out again in Nigeria’s Muslim north today, 24 hours after protesters set fire to churches and homes of ruling party supporters when national election results showed that the Christian candidate had won.

Authorities and aid groups have hesitated to release tolls following the riots for fear of inciting reprisal attacks, but the Nigerian Red Cross said hundreds had been wounded in the post-election violence and that rioting continued today in the town of Kaduna.

Soldiers had set up a military checkpoint about 10 miles south of the city, where a bomb blast hours after the Saturday vote had wounded eight.

In a televised address to the nation late yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan said that “nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.”

Supporters of opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari set fire to homes of ruling party members in several areas across the north. Police said an angry mob also engineered a prison break.

In the northern town of Kano, Rev. Lado Abdu said three churches had been set ablaze by angry demonstrators. An armed mob at a bus station also threatened another evangelical pastor before a Muslim man nearby spirited him to safety.

“What brought together religion and politics?” Rev. Habila Sunday said. “I want to know why when politics happen do they burn churches?”

Thousands have been killed in religious violence in the past decade in Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous nation. But the roots of the sectarian conflict are often embedded in struggles for political and economic dominance.

While Christians and Muslims have lived together there for centuries, the election result showing the Christian president’s more than 10 million-vote lead over Muslim Mr Buhari spread accusations of rigging in a nation long accustomed to ballot box stuffing.

Mr Jonathan took office last year only after the country’s elected Muslim president died from a lengthy illness before his term ended, and many in the north still believe the ruling party should have put up a Muslim candidate instead in this year’s election.

Nigeria has a long history of violent and rigged polls since it abandoned a revolving door of military rulers and embraced democracy 12 years ago.

Legislative elections earlier this month left a hotel ablaze, a politician dead and a polling station and a vote-counting centre bombed in the nation’s north-east. However, observers largely said Saturday’s presidential election appeared to be fair, with fewer cases of ballot box thefts than previous polls.

Election chairman Attahiru Jega announced results last night that showed Mr Jonathan won 22.4 million votes, compared to the 12.2 million for Mr Buhari.