Nigerian police used teargas on Saturday to quell fighting between supporters of rival candidates for governor in Niger and Plateau states as the ruling party began gubernatorial primaries across the nation.
In central Benue state, one policeman was killed by a mob protesting against the outcome of an earlier primary to pick members of the state house of assembly — the latest death to mar preparations for Nigeria’s landmark elections next year.
The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is trying to pick its candidates to contest state and federal posts in elections next April that should mark the first democratic transition in Africa’s most populous nation.
Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous military dictatorship but violence, rigging and corruption remain at the heart of the political system despite official rhetoric about the dividends of democracy.
Large numbers of police, in some cases equipped with armoured personnel carriers, deployed at the venues of the primaries across Nigeria to prevent fighting between thugs armed and paid by rival candidates seeking to impose themselves.
In Minna, the capital of northern Niger state, candidates and their supporters gathered at a stadium to vote but the ballot was cancelled after thugs started hurling objects and attacking each other with sticks and iron rods.
”The situation is getting out of hand. It’s beyond what I can control. Because of that we have agreed that the election be postponed until Wednesday next week,” said Sunday Ako, the PDP’s electoral chairperson in the state.
Stones and teargas
The state governor, who is backing one of the 10 would-be governors vying for the PDP ticket, tried to intervene to stop the fighting but instead was pelted with stones and debris.
Only after police used teargas and charged did the crowd disperse.
In central Plateau state, an election took place and a winner was declared, but his rivals immediately cried foul and their supporters started lobbing stones and trying to attack the successful candidate until police fired teargas at the crowd.
It was unclear whether the result would stand or whether the party would cancel it. PDP leaders in the capital Abuja had said they would not accept results of primaries marred by fighting, but the Plateau winner is backed by powerful party figures.
In Gwer local government area of Benue state, protesters unhappy about the outcome of a primary a week ago to select PDP candidates for the state house of assembly blocked a major road.
”Police went there to try and re-open the road and disperse the crowd but one police inspector was killed by the mob,” said Cletus Akwaya, Benue state’s information commissioner.
Nigeria’s last elections, in 2003, were marred by widespread cheating and politically motivated violence, according to the United States State Department.
The 2007 polls are even more hotly contested because the president and many state governors are nearing the end of their second terms and the Constitution bars them from seeking a third. Intense power struggles are taking place at every level.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest exporter of crude oil, is also one of the world’s most corrupt countries. With state coffers full of windfall earnings from high oil prices, the stakes are huge for candidates hoping to win office and loot public funds. – Reuters