Nigeria: Post-election violence or Religious antagonism

By on April 26, 2011
Over 500 people were killed in riots that followed the presidential election. The riots erupted after the victory of the outgoing head of state, Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the South.

The Nigerian authorities are still refusing to confirm or deny these casualties, aiming not to exacerbate tensions between communities. But external sources reported the toll could be worse since some isolated rural areas have not yet been inspected, in particular the central state of Kaduna.In general, the situation will remain very tense in the northern region of Nigeria during the governors’ elections, and especially since the CPC party of Muhammadu Buhari, the unsuccessful presidential candidate, has again and violently denounced irregularities and fraud. The CPC called for a biometric analysis of the ballots in at least 11 of the 36 states in the country. Meanwhile, security forces are on high alert and mainly in the cities of Zonkwa, Kafanchan and Zangon Katak in southern Kaduna State where the attacks were perpetrated and as the number of refugees is increasing day by day. The Red Cross now has estimated some 74,000 people have fled their homes and are reluctant to return because of the vote on Tuesday. As a response to the recent outbreak of post-election violence in parts of the country, the Nigerian Minister of Interior, Emeka Wogue, called on Nigerians, especially youth, to avoid being galvanized by “incentives” to commit violence. Then what could be these “Incentives” in a large country, counting a population of more than 150 millions, and where the political concomitance looks unstable, aggravated by a religious antagonism and confrontation between the North and the South for le last ten years?

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