USAfrica: Post-election mayhem in northern Nigeria: Burnt corpses with machete wounds on roads, churches and mosques burnt.
Special to USAfricaonline.com, CLASSmagazine, The Black Business Journal, USAfrica e-group, AnambraPolitics e-group, IgboEventsand Nigeria360@yahoogroups e-group
In a terrible, shocking aftermath of the relatively peaceful April 16, 2011 presidential elections in Nigeria, the announcement by the INEC of sitting President Goodluck Jonathan, a christian from the minority south-south region as the winner of the elections over the conservative Muslim candidate retired Gen. Mohammadu Buhari, riots broke out in many parts of the predominantly Islamic northern region.
In respect of its scope and detail, USAfrica cites the special report by Jon Gambrell, AP’s correspondent, AP’s affiliated reporters/writers Krista Larson and Yinka Ibukun in Lagos, Nigeria and Maggie Fick in Kano, dated this morning: Burned corpses with machete wounds lay in roads and smoke rose above this city where rioting broke out again Tuesday among Muslim opposition supporters who were angered by the announcement that the Christian incumbent president had won the election.
On the outskirts of Kaduna, burned out minibuses and cars littered the highways, and at least six charred bodies could be seen. Skull caps and sandals were strewn nearby, left behind by those who frantically fled amid the chaos.
Authorities and aid groups have hesitated to release tolls following the riots across northern Nigeria for fear of inciting reprisal attacks, but the National Emergency Management Agency confirmed there had been fatalities. The Nigerian Red Cross said Tuesday that nearly 400 people had been wounded.
In a televised address to the nation late Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan said that “nobody’s political ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.” Hours later, the president fired his interior minister, citing “a number of lapses in the political leadership of the ministry.”
On Monday, 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 in the local Hausa language. “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 shared the same soil in the nation for centuries, the election result showing the Christian president’s more than 10 million vote lead over Muslim candidate Muhammadu Buhari spread accusations of rigging in a nation long accustomed to ballot box stuffing.
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. Monday’s violence also was fueled by the economic despair in Nigeria’s arid north.
“The region has the worst unemployment, the most grinding poverty, the poorest education, and the shortest life expectancy of any region of Nigeria,” the newspaper Next said Tuesday in an editorial. “So stark and repulsive is the poverty, and so thoroughly alienated have the people become, that even this contested election can be seen as little more than an outlet for the expression of deep-seated grievances.”
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 center bombed in the nation’s northeast. 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 Monday night that showed Jonathan won 22.4 million votes, compared to the 12.2 million votes of his nearest rival, the former military ruler Buhari. ref: AP
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FCUK the North
There is no real reason for this mayhem, except for penchant for violence at the drop of a hat. I believe Nigerians have had enough of this nonsense, and should take individual steps to put a stop to it. My advise is that everyone who feels threatened by these hoodlums, since their so-called leaders have remained silent- should take preemptive steps to protect their families and properties. We cannot continue to read the same gory story from the North all of the time; violent acts is not an exclusive preserve of northern youths.
You can interpret my comments however you want.
THIS A BIG SHAME. I THINK, D TIME HAS COME 2 SEPERATE PAUL nd BARNABAS!
THIS A BIG SHAME. I THINK, D TIME HAS COME 2 SEPERATE PAUL nd BARNABAS!