Fifty people were killed during Nigeria’s flawed governorship elections earlier this month, the country’s electoral agency said on Monday.
Independent National Electoral Commission spokesperson Philip Umeadi told reporters that of these, 39 were police officers and 11 were civilians.
A breakdown of the figures showed that 16 people died in the northern city of Kano, nine in Nasarawa, eight in Adamawa, seven in Rivers, five in Edo and two in Kogi, while Delta, Ondo and Plateau recorded one death each.
Umeadi said 1 093 suspects were arrested in connection with the poll-related violence, adding that they would soon be prosecuted.
He said casualty figures for the April 21 presidential poll were still being collated.
European Union election monitors last week estimated that about 200 people, including police, were killed during the two stages of voting in West Africa’s most populous country.
The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won by a landslide in the elections, which were criticised by the United States and the European Union as the worst in Nigeria’s recent history.
Opposition parties and civil society groups have called for the cancellation of the vote and threatened to refuse to recognise a government formed from it. They have called for peaceful protests starting on Tuesday.
Elections in some districts were rerun on Saturday but were marred by voter apathy. — Sapa-AFP