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Nigeria: Elections 2011 and post-election violence

ecoi.net's featured topics offer an overview on selected issues. The featured topic for Nigeria covers the April 2011 elections and post-election violence. The featured topics are presented in the form of excerpts from documents, all coming from sources available on ecoi.net.

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 Last update: 10 October 2011
 
1 - GENERAL INFORMATION
 
POLITICAL SITUATION
Nigeria „is Africa’s most populous country, with over 150 million people, roughly half Muslim and half Christian, […].
The country today is relatively stable, but it has faced intermittent political turmoil and economic crises since gaining independence in 1960. Political life has been scarred by conflict along both ethnic, religious, and geographic lines and misrule has undermined the authority and legitimacy of the state. […]
The country is composed of over 250 ethnic groups, of which ten account for nearly 80% of the total population. The northern Hausa and Fulani, the southwestern Yoruba, and the southeastern Ibo have traditionally been the most politically active and dominant. Almost half of the country’s population, some 75 million people primarily residing in the northern half of the country, are Muslim. […]
Nigeria […] is a federal republic composed of 36 states; […]. The country has a bicameral legislature with a 109-member Senate and a 360-member House of Representatives. Its president, legislators, and governors are elected on four year terms. The country was ruled by the military for almost three decades after independence before making the transition to civilian rule in 1999.” (CRS, 1 April 2011, Summary/pp. 1-2)
 
„Nigeria verfügt über ein Mehrparteiensystem. […] Nur über die Mitgliedschaft bei einer Partei besteht Zugang zu Macht, Ämtern und Ressourcen.“ (SFH, 12 April 2010, p. 3)
 
„There were 62 parties registered with INEC [Independent National Electoral Commission] at year's end [2010].” (USDOS, 8 April 2011, Section 2)
 
„The three major political parties are the ruling PDP [People’s Democratic Party]; the ANPP [All Nigeria People’s Party], which is the largest opposition party and draws its strongest support from the Muslim north; and the AC [Action Congress] […].” (FH, May 2010)
 
„In August 2010 the Action Congress (AC) changed its name into Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).” (European Commission, 31 May 2011, p. 10)
 
„In 2007 Umaru Musa Yar'Adua of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) was elected to a four-year term as president, along with Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, also of the PDP. […]
 
Vice President Jonathan became acting president on February 9 [2010] after the National Assembly conferred presidential authority on him during President Yar'Adua's prolonged illness. On May 5, Jonathan assumed the presidency following Yar'Adua's death. […]
 
The majority PDP party also engaged in ‘zoning’, a practice of rotating positions within the party among the different regions and ethnic groups to ensure that each region was given adequate representation. This practice has become an issue as Jonathan's transition from vice president to president after the death of former President Yar'Adua, a northerner, upset the prior rotational scheme.” (USDOS, 8 April 2011, Introduction/Section 3)
 
„Under zoning, the north’s turn should have lasted until 2015, since the south had enjoyed eight years under Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.” (ICG, 24 February 2011, p. 4)
 
„Corruption was massive, widespread, and pervasive at all levels of government and throughout the security forces. The constitution provides immunity from civil and criminal prosecution to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.” (USDOS, 8 April 2011, Section 4)
 
APRIL 2011 ELECTIONS
 
„Nigeria held three rounds of elections - legislative on April 9, presidential on April 16, and gubernatorial on April 26.” (HRW, 16 May 2011)
 
„ […] governorship elections are due in most of Nigeria's states on Tuesday [26 April] […]. The polls in Kaduna and Bauchi states in the north have been postponed by two days because of the security situation.” (Guardian, 24 April 2011)
 
“On 20 September 2010, INEC suggested that the elections, initially scheduled for January 2011 through a timetable announced on 6 September 2010, be postponed to April 2011 […], as the electoral umpire cited the need for more time to overhaul the country's electoral register. […]
New dates were scheduled for 2 April for the National Assembly, for 9 April, for the Presidential elections, and 16 April, for the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections. On 2 April INEC’s Chairperson declared the nationwide cancellation of the National Assembly polls due to hampering logistical challenges […]. After consulting with major stakeholders, INEC decided to shift further all three polls by a week from the previous schedule.” (European Commission, 31 May 2011, pp. 13, 18)
 
„Over 50 people are reported killed in election related violence since July [2010] throughout Nigeria.” (AI, 24 March 2011)
 
„Elections were held in most areas of the country in a largely peaceful atmosphere, with fewer reported incidents of violence or blatant police abuses than in previous years. […]
 
Despite the improvements, though, there were still incidents of violence, hijacking of ballot boxes by party thugs, and reports of police misconduct, particularly in southeast Nigeria and the volatile Niger Delta region. […]
 
The elections were also marred by allegations of vote buying, ballot-box stuffing, and inflation of results, most noticeably in southeastern Nigeria - Jonathan's stronghold - where official results in the presidential election in some rural areas recorded close to 100 percent voter turnout.” (HRW, 16 May 2011)
 
„International observers have said the [presidential] election was reasonably free and fair.” (BBC News, 22 April 2011)
 
„The elections were widely judged to be the freest and fairest in Nigerian history, […]. But clear improvements in democratic process belied an apparent paradox: These were also the most violent elections in Nigeria’s history. Preelection and postelection violence killed many hundreds of people, […].” (CSIS, June 2011, p. 16)
 
„According to the official election results announced by INEC, out of the 109 seats to the Senate, PDP won 71 Senatorial Districts (65.2 percent), ACN 18 (16.2 percent), ANPP and CPC [Congress for Progressive Change] each 7 seats (6.4 percent), the Labour Party 4 seats (3.7 percent) APGA [All Progressive Grand Alliance] and Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) one seat each (0.9 percent).
 
For the 360 seats to the House of Representatives, PDP received the majority of the votes winning 199 seats (55.1 percent), followed by ACN with 69 seats (19.1 percent), CPC with 37 seats (10.3 percent), ANPP with 27 seats (7.5 percent), LP with eight (2.2 percent), APGA with six seats (1.7 percent), ACCORD with five (1.4 percent), DPP two seats (0.6 percent) and Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) with one elected seat (0.3 percent). […]
 
The Presidential results […] showed as the winner the incumbent PDP candidate [Goodluck Jonathan] with 22,295,187 valid votes cast, i.e. a total of 58.9 percent. The runner up, the CPC candidate [Muhammadu Buhari], received a total of 12,214,833 valid votes or 31.9 percent. […]
 
For the Governorship elections, out of 36 seats, only 26 were contested in the April polls. PDP won 18 seats, ANPP and ACN each won three, and CPC, and APGA each one seat.” (European Commission, 31 May 2011, pp. 49-50)
 
„The 2011 elections considerably opened political competition, as the PDP’s majority diminished and several new parties were represented in the legislature and state governments.” (CSIS, June 2011, p. 8)
                                     
„Nigeria's biggest opposition party has gone to court challenging President Goodluck Jonathan's election victory and alleging electoral fraud. The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) wants [presidential] elections to be rerun in several southern areas, which voted overwhelmingly for Mr Jonathan.” (BBC News, 9 May 2011)
 
 
2 - POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE
 
TIMELINE 
 
9 April 2011
 
„An opposition politician was shot dead in Borno. Two bombs exploded in the state. One took off a policewoman's hands and wounded four other people. The other caused no injuries. […] In the town of Brass, one person was killed in clashes between supporters of rival politicians.” (AlertNet, 9 April 2011)
 
„The rescheduled National Assembly elections on 9 April were heralded by a massive bomb blast within INEC offices in Suleja, near Abuja, causing an unspecified number of deaths and significant damage.” ” (ICG, 15 September 2011, p. 7)
 
„Intimidation of accredited journalists sharply increased when polling stations opened on 9 April for the parliamentary elections. African Independent Television cameraman Tamunoemi Kingdom and another crew member were beaten in Ozoro (Delta state) by PDP officials who objected to the filming of them harassing a man entering a polling station.” (RSF, 16 April 2011)
 
16 April 2011
 
„Police said a bomb was detonated at a hotel in the city of Kaduna, wounding eight people on Saturday night. A PDP official's house was burned down in the town of Azere.
 
Shots were fired in Bauchi and a car thought to be carrying fraudulent ballots was set ablaze in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Young men stalked the streets armed with bows and arrows.” (Guardian, 17 April 2011)
 
17-19 April 2011
 
„[…] violence erupted over President Goodluck Jonathan's election win over his northern rival Muhammadu Buhari in April 16 polls. […]
Allegations of rigging are believed to have set off some of the initial riots following the presidential election.” (AFP, 25 April 2011)
 
„Deadly election-related and communal violence in northern Nigeria following the April 2011 presidential voting left more than 800 people dead, Human Rights Watch said today. The victims were killed in three days of rioting in 12 northern states. […]
 
The violence began with widespread protests by supporters of the main opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari […], following the re-election of incumbent Goodluck Jonathan […] who was the candidate for the ruling People's Democratic Party. The protests degenerated into violent riots or sectarian killings in the northern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara. Relief officials estimate that more than 65,000 people have been displaced. […]
 
mobs burned the homes, vehicles, and properties of ruling party stalwarts, most of whom were Muslim, and traditional leaders who were seen to have backed the ruling party. The rioters also began targeting and killing Christians and members of southern Nigerian ethnic groups, who were seen as supporting the ruling party, and burning churches across the north. As the riots spread, mobs of Christians in predominately Christian communities in Kaduna State retaliated by killing Muslims and burning their mosques and properties.” (HRW, 16 May 2011)
 
„The worst violence followed the announcement on 18 April of the results of the presidential election [...]. Over 1,000 people were killed, including an unspecified number of NYSC [National Youth Service Corps] members. Some female NYCS members were raped or otherwise molested and assaulted. According to the Nigerian Red Cross, about 74,000 people were displaced.” (ICG, 15 September 2011, p. 7)
 
„The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) said more than 500 people were killed on Monday [18 April] and Tuesday [19 April] in three towns – Zonkwa, Kafanchan and Zangon Kataf – in the southern part of Kaduna state, one of the worst-hit areas. […]
Although a military-enforced curfew brought the violence under control in major cities after little more than a day, soldiers took longer to deploy to more remote towns.” (Guardian, 24 April 2011)
 
„Rights groups on Friday accused Nigerian troops and police of abuses, including extra-judicial killings, as they sought to quell deadly riots in northern Nigeria after the April 16 presidential poll. […]
The abuses are alleged to have occurred in Kaduna and another northern city, Zaria […].” (AFP, 6 May 2011)
 
Umar Marigar of the Red Cross „said that, in the southern state of Anambra, 8,400 people had sought refuge at the Onitsha military barracks because they feared reprisal attacks against northerners.” (BBC News, 20 April 2011)
 
24 April 2011
 
„In the northern city of Kano on Sunday, many Christians celebrated Easter in police and military barracks where they had taken shelter from the riots.” (BBC News, 24 April 2011)
 
24/25 April 2011
 
„Four bombs have exploded in Maiduguri in north-eastern Nigeria, killing at least three people. Two blasts went off at a hotel and one at a transport hub on Sunday night [24 April]. There was a fourth blast at a cattle market on Monday morning [25 April]. Similar attacks have been blamed on the Islamist Boko Haram sect which has been battling security services in the city.
The latest bombings come ahead of polls on Tuesday for the governors of Nigeria's 36 states. […]
Police said the bombs bore all hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has mounted almost daily attacks and killings in the city in recent months.
Correspondents say Boko Haram's grievances are entirely separate to the post-election violence, but there are also suspicions that the group has been used locally by politicians to attack and to intimidate voters.” (BBC News, 25 April 2011)
 
„Maiduguri has long been hit by violence blamed on an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which launched an uprising in 2009, though some of the recent attacks are believed to have been politically linked.” (AFP, 25 April 2011)
 
7 May 2011
 
„Attack on Tafawa Balewa linked to earlier violence following the re-election of Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan […] At least 16 people have been killed in northern Nigeria in what appears to be more sectarian violence following April's presidential election. The attack on the town of Tafawa Balewa, in Bauchi state, was in revenge for earlier killings in the area, according to residents. Houses were also reportedly set alight. ‘Sixteen people have been confirmed killed by unidentified attackers,’ said Bauchi police commissioner John Aba Kasanga.” (Guardian, 7 May 2011)
 
29 May 2011
 
„At least 10 people have been killed and about 25 injured by three bomb blasts near an army barracks in northern Nigeria, local officials have said. The explosions hit the Mamy market in the city of Bauchi late on Sunday. The injured were taken to hospital. […] The attack came just hours after the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, was sworn in for his first full term of office in the capital, Abuja.
 
A second, smaller explosion hit a beer parlour in Zuba, on the outskirts of Abuja, causing minor injuries, officials say. […] The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Abuja says no-one has yet claimed to be behind the attack, though the timing - on the day of President Jonathan's inauguration - could mean a link with widespread northern anger at his election.” (BBC News, 30 May 2011)
 
29/30 May 2011
 
„At least six people have been injured by two explosions in the hometown of Nigeria's Vice-President, Namadi Sambo, officials have said. The blasts in the northern city of Zaria struck a bar on Sunday night [29 May] and the old quarter on Monday morning [30 May].” (BBC News, 30 May 2011)
 
According to state-run relief agency NEMA, 18 people have been killed in bomb blasts in several cities, mainly in the North, following the swearing in of President Goodluck Jonathan; 31 others have been hospitalised (AFP, 2 June 2011)
 
July 2011
 
"A series of bomb blasts and other attacks occurred in the run-up to Nigeria's parliamentary, presidential and state elections in April, and have continued afterward, intensifying in recent weeks. Much of the violence has been claimed by an Islamist sect known as Boko Haram, which has mainly operated in the northeastern region of the country and has previously targeted churches in a nation roughly divided in half between Christians and Muslims. But the motive of certain attacks has been unclear, and other parts of the country, Africa's largest oil producer, have also been targeted." (AFP, 10 July 2011)
 
Please note: Reports on attacks by Boko Haram that do not explicitly mention a connection to elections are not included in this featured topic.
  
 
SOURCES: (all links accessed 10 October 2011)
 

This featured topic was prepared after researching solely on ecoi.net and within time constraints. It is meant to offer an overview on an issue and is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status, asylum or other form of international protection. Every quotation comes from a document available on ecoi.net and is referred to via an ID-search.

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