Nigeria’s secret police on Monday expressed concern over increased violence just weeks ahead of a general election, and in particular the bombings of campaign rallies.
Recent months have seen an upsurge in bomb attacks and clashes which have left dozens dead in different parts of the country.
The director of the State Security Service (SSS) Ekpeyong Ita told political party leaders at a meeting in Abuja that the use of violence against rivals was “a great danger to the election.”
“There is also the frightening dimension of introduction of bombing during campaign rallies,” said the intelligence chief, adding that the emerging trends were becoming “sources of great security concern.”
The latest in a series of attacks on political meetings came two weeks ago when a bomb ripped through a roadside market near a ruling party election rally in the central town of Suleja. At least three people were killed and 28 injured.
Explosions also rocked the capital Abuja in October and on New Year’s Eve, while central Nigeria, repeatedly hit by clashes between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups, was rocked by Christmas Eve bombings and reprisal attacks.
Opposition campaigns in the southern oil state of Bayelsa have also been the targets of bombings.
A presidential campaign rally planned for the same state on Tuesday by one of the leading opposition parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria, looked likely to be called off because of security concerns, a party official said.
“I don?t think it can be held any more due to security issues,” ACN national youth leader Miriki Ebikibina said Monday.
MEND, the main militant group based in the oil-producing Niger Delta, on Monday warned of fresh attacks on oil installations and political meetings in the run-up to the polls.
Nigeria holds presidential, state and legislative elections in April in a test to see if it will break with its history of deeply flawed and violent polls.
The national intelligence chief and the party leaders agreed at the end of their talks that the upcoming elections “must be free and fair.”
Mar152011