6 killed in political clashes
2007-11-19 07:23
Kano - Supporters of rival political parties clashed on Sunday in northern Nigeria over the results of local government elections, leaving six people dead and dozens behind bars, said police.
Voters in northern Kano state cast ballots on Saturday for leaders of their local constituencies, and supporters of the governing party battled members of the leading opposition group on Sunday as results began trickling out.
Six people died in the clashes in Kano state, and dozens were arrested with machetes and firearms, said Kano State Police Commissioner Aminu Yesifu.
President Umaru Yar'Adua of the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party was announced the winner of April elections that electoral observers said were deeply flawed, with results from the state and federal vote deemed not credible after reports of widespread rigging.
The official runner-up, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, rejected the results and had launched a court drive to overturn them. Supporters of the two parties launched the battles in Kano, after Buhari's party was shown in the lead of the local elections.
Well more than 10 000 Nigerians had died in political or other civil strife since 1999, after the return of multiparty electoral competition ended over a decade of brutal military rule in Africa's most-populous nation.
- AP