Security forces have been deployed on the streets of northern cities in Nigeria as angry youths gathered in protest at results showing that President Goodluck Jonathan won a presidential election.
Security forces have been deployed on the streets of northern cities in Nigeria as angry youths gathered in protest at results showing that President Goodluck Jonathan won a presidential election.
Votes counted from all but one of Nigeria’s 36 states showed Mr Jonathan, the president from the southern oil producing Niger Delta, had beaten Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler from the Muslim north, in the first round.
Observers have called the poll the fairest in decades in Africa’s most populous nation but Mr Buhari’s supporters accuse the ruling party of rigging.
Results show how politically polarised the country is, with Mr Buhari sweeping states in the Muslim north and Mr Jonathan winning the largely-Christian south.
Plumes of smoke rose into the air in parts of the northern city of Kaduna as protesters set fire to barricades of tyres.
Soldiers used whips to disperse groups of youths gathering in the streets of Kano, the most populous city in the north.
Residents in the town of Zaria said a church was burned overnight and soldiers were brought in to disperse scuffles between rival supporters at the gates of the Emir’s palace.
‘People are afraid to go out. The military have been brought out to provide security and they’re out on the streets,’ said one Kaduna resident, asking not to be named.
Mr Buhari’s camp, which had urged its supporters throughout the campaign to protect their votes, said some results looked suspicious, especially where turnout had been exceptionally high in some of Mr Jonathan’s strongholds.
The Independent National Electoral Commission is expected to announce final results later today.