(Reuters) – Worsening political violence in Nigeria and partisan government meddling in the electoral process risks tainting the country’s landmark elections this month, a New York-based rights group said on Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch said politicians in many of Nigeria’s 36 states have armed criminal gangs ahead of the poll to harass and intimidate opponents and rig the polls.
Scores of people have died since November in clashes between supporters of rival political parties but police have failed to investigate or prosecute politicians behind the violence, as was the case in the last elections, in 2003, the group said.
“It seems clear that … Nigerian voters will again face the threat of violence, intimidation and fraud,” Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch said in a report.
President Olusegun Obasanjo blamed the violence on candidates campaigning for state governorships and said security agencies should deal with the problem.
“A lot of weapons have found their way into different hands. We will search for them, we will look for them and wherever they are, we will find and collect them,” Obasanjo said at forum with former Nigerian leaders and sitting state governors.
“I will appeal to candidates of all parties … to bring a modicum of decency, of peace, of mutual respect and mutual restraint into how we conduct our campaigns.”
Nigerians are due to elect state governors and legislators on April 14, and the president and federal legislators a week later in polls that should mark the first transition from one elected leader to another in Africa’s most populous country.
Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after 30 years of almost continuous military rule, but violence remains a central part of the political system.
SPORADIC FIGHTING
The build-up to the April vote has been marred by sporadic fighting between supporters of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which controls 28 states, and opposition factions.
Twelve people were injured in fighting between PDP and opposition party supporters in southwest Ogun state on Tuesday. Three were killed in neighbouring Oyo state on Monday and four more in the northeastern Bauchi state last Wednesday.
Media also reported scores were killed in fighting between PDP and supporters of the All Nigeria People’s Party in the past week in the remote central state of Nasarawa.
“Electoral violence poses a tremendous threat to voters on polling day,” said Takirambudde. “But Nigeria’s police appear to be standing by as powerful politicians mobilise gangs to undermine the vote.”
Human Rights Watch said shoddy voter registration and the government’s use of its anti-graft agency to bar opposition candidates, including Vice President Atiku Abubakar, have raised further doubts about the fairness and credibility of the polls.
Abubakar has fallen out with Obasanjo, who is doing all he can to stop the vice president from running for the top job.
The vice president has been disqualified under a corruption indictment he says was politically motivated. He is fighting in court to get back on the ballot.