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Violence mars Nigerian elections
14/04/2007 16:43 - (SA)
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| Nigerians have voted in elections for governors and legislators in 36 states, with security forces on high alert and violence reported. (AP) |
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Lagos - Nigerians voted on Saturday in elections for governors and legislators in 36 states, with security forces on high alert and violence reported in the oil-rich south of the country.
Major parties see the polls as an indicator of their chances in the April 21 election of a successor to President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is ending his second four-year term.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controls 28 states and a top party official predicted the PDP would win more this time, including Lagos state, which has been controlled by an opposition party since 1999.
The presidential vote is expected to lead to the country's first civilian-to-civilian handover since independence from Britain in 1960.
Many polling stations opened late
In the commercial capital Lagos on Saturday, where the streets and freeways were abnormally quiet, the military was out in full force manning checkpoints at key road junctions.
They were searching all vehicles and checking the identity of their occupants. Many polling stations in different parts of the country opened late.
By midday however voting was well underway in most places, with the exception of some parts of two southern oil states - Rivers and Delta.
In Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers, two police stations were burned down overnight and seven policemen killed by assailants who arrived shouting "We are the Niger Delta youths. Come and do the elections now!".
A supporter of local militant leader Ateke Tom said his group, the Niger Delta Vigilantes, carried out the two attacks.
In some parts of Rivers polling eventually started in late morning. In other parts of the state people were still not voting by afternoon.
In Okrika, a fief of Ateke Tom south of Port Harcourt, large numbers of people complained of voting materials being delivered late and of their subsequent confiscation by officials from the ruling party.
Ballot boxes stuffed with pre-stamped papers in favour of ruling party candidate
At Bodo community in the Ogoni region of Rivers AFP journalists reported seeing two electoral agents stuffing ballot boxes with pre-stamped papers in favour of the ruling party candidate.
Government officials also reported at least two dead and one wounded in violence in Yenagoa, the capital of neighbouring Bayelsa State, but details were not immediately available.
In Warri, another oil town, voting in some parts of town had still not begun by early afternoon and residents spoke of large gangs of youths fighting the military.
Southern Nigeria's oil-producing region has been the theatre of violence, ranging from gang warfare to kidnappings of oil workers, for the past several years.
European Union observers monitoring the poll are not deploying to the three main states of the delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta for security reasons.
The northern commercial capital of Kano was calm although some polling stations opened very late.
'Killing motivated by religious rather than political interests'
A radical Muslim cleric was killed in Kano on Friday. Residents also reported a heavy military presence and numerous checkpoints. Officials however said the cleric's killing was motivated by religious rather than political interests.
In another northern State, Katsina, an angry mob of opposition supporters burned down a local government secretariat in Dandume town, convinced that the non-arrival of voting materials was an attempt by the ruling party to rig elections, officials said.
While the military manned the roads, police were deployed at polling stations throughout the country.
In Lagos the situation was calm and the local police chief Bashir Azeez said no arrests had been made so far.
Some Lagos governorship candidates had just their logo, not their photograph on the ballot sheets.
Maurice Iwu, the overall boss of the electoral agency, dismissed this as being the fault of the candidates in question who had not submitted photos.
The Nigerian government ordered the closure of its land and sea borders for 12 hours on Saturday to "ensure a hitch-free electoral process", an interior ministry statement said.
Nigeria has land borders with Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
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