Thousands of armed police and soldiers have been drafted into Nigeria’s oil-producing Delta state for a governorship election on Thursday seen as a litmus test for the conduct of nationwide polls in April.
Delta state is holding the re-run after an appeals court in November overturned the 2007 election of governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, a member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), just months ahead of the end of his term.
Delta is one of three main states in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry and a restive region seen as a potential flashpoint during presidential and parliamentary elections in three months’ time.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from the Niger Delta, flew down from Abuja on Tuesday to support Uduaghan’s campaign. But Uduaghan is not a universally popular figure and security experts fear unrest if he is declared winner of the polls.
The run-up to voting has already been marred by disputes over the voter register, leading to an attack on the local office of the electoral commission. Officials sought to reassure voters that the polls would be properly policed.
“We have not less than 22,600 conventional policemen … We also have the bomb disposal unit, helicopter and (the navy), all to ensure the successful conduct of the election,” police deputy inspector general Audu Abubakar said.
More than 2,800 armed anti-riot police have also been deployed to the state while a military task force responsible for policing the Niger Delta will also help ensure security.
WAVE OF VIOLENCE
Nigeria has been shaken by violence in recent weeks, including a New Year’s eve bomb blast on the edge of an army barracks in Abuja a week after a series of blasts and subsequent clashes killed 80 in the central city of Jos.
Homemade bombs hit a political rally in Bayelsa state, next to Delta, on December 29 and there are fears that the oil region could flare up again ahead of the April polls.
Warri, the main oil city in Delta state, has seen its share of violence in the past. It was hit by twin car bombs last March during talks about implementing an amnesty programme for militants brokered by Jonathan.
Jonathan is the first Nigerian president from the Ijaw ethnic group, the largest in the Niger Delta, and his failure to win the ruling party primaries next week or the April polls could trigger unrest in his home region.
But his election bid is contentious because he is a southerner. Some in the ruling party say an agreement about power sharing among Nigeria’s regions meant the next president should be a northerner.
The PDP has been the dominant party in Nigerian politics since the end of military rule just over a decade ago, controlling more than two thirds of the country’s 36 states.
But several PDP governors including Uduaghan have had their elections overturned by the courts in recent months.
Uduaghan faces 13 challengers including Great Ogboru of the Democratic People’s Party and Ovie Omo of the Republican Party of Nigeria, seen as his two main rivals.