NIGERIA: Violence mars ruling party primaries

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

NIGERIA: Violence mars ruling party primaries

LAGOS, 3 July (IRIN) - Primaries organised by Nigeria’s
ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday and Tuesday to
choose candidates for next month’s local council elections were
marred by factional violence. At least two people died and dozens
of others were injured.

The deaths occurred during clashes in the central city of
Ilorin between rival groups of PDP and opposition All People's
Party supporters, according to police sources. "One person was
shot and killed while another was stabbed to death as thugs
from rival factions fought," a police spokesman in the city,
located in Kwara State, told IRIN.

In the southern state of Rivers, two days of violence
disrupted the primaries in Okrika Island
and the state capital, Port Harcourt, leaving several
people injured. Residents of Okrika said hundreds of youths armed
with clubs and other weapons fought one another on the streets of
the island.

The Guardian daily reported on Wednesday that five
youths abducted during the fighting were still missing. The
paper reported Mr Nemi Adokiye, a senior official of the Rivers
State government and resident of Okrika as blaming “highly
placed” politicians for arming the thugs and sponsoring the violence.

"The current atmosphere (in the town) is tense and there is
a siege mentality. Everybody is scared and afraid," he was
quoted as saying.

In Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil industry capital, truckloads
of policemen were deployed at the PDP secretariat to quell
violence that erupted following a protest by hundreds of youths
against the party's failure to hold primaries in the Obio/Akpor
local council area on Monday. Two people sustained stab wounds while
a third person was shot in the leg by a policeman.

In the southern oil town of Warri, Delta State, armed
soldiers patrolled the streets and set up roadblocks at key entry
points into the town in the wake of violence there on Sunday
between factions of the PDP.

Lt-Col Lar Dogo, commander of the Amphibious Brigade based
in Warri, said there were intelligence reports indicating
that large quantities of arms were being sent into the town for
use by political thugs.

There were also reports of violence between rival factions of
the PDP in the northeastern state of Adamawa. The PDP primaries
in Adamawa were hotly disputed, and the results of the voting
have not been released.

The widespread political violence has raised fears that
the council polls, scheduled for 10 August, might be marred
by unrest. This would not augur well for general elections set
for the first quarter of 2003.

Next year’s polls are generally considered a key test
for Nigeria’s new democracy, which ended more than 15 years
of military rule in 1999. No civilian government in
Nigeria’s history has conducted general elections successfully, and
the turmoil arising from past elections had provided the
military with a pretext for seizing power.
[ENDS]

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