Fresh bomb blasts jolted Nigeria on Tuesday as the country voted in state governors’ elections, the last of three landmark ballots that have already triggered deadly unrest.
Three bomb blasts hit the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, an area long plagued by violence blamed on an Islamist sect, but no casualties were reported, police said. No one was allowed on the streets there except to vote. The vote comes after April 16 presidential elections led to widespread rioting across the mainly Muslim north of Africa’s most populous nation, leaving more than 500 dead, according to a local rights group. Unrest broke out despite what some observers said appeared to be Nigeria’s cleanest vote for head of state since a return to civilian rule in 1999, with the country seeking to break from a history of deeply flawed polls. The election won by President Goodluck Jonathan exposed deep divisions in Nigeria, particularly between the country’s economically marginalised north and predominately Christian south, home to the oil industry.
There were reports of election workers — recent university graduates who are members of the national youth service corps — refusing to turn up for duty Tuesday out of fear of more attacks, with some having been previously targeted. Some of the estimated 74,000 displaced by the riots, many of whom are living at increasingly squalid military and police barracks, expressed fears of voting. “I can’t risk my life to go and vote,” said Emmanuel Idahosa, a 42-year-old mechanic who has been living at a barracks in the main northern city of Kano. “We’ve lost our homes, our businesses, our loved ones to post-election violence, and you expect me to stick my neck out for a second time to go and vote?”
Turnout so far appeared far below that of the April 16 presidential election in various polling stations in Kano and other cities, but strong in some areas, such as the tense central city of Jos. Most of Nigeria’s 36 states were holding governorship and state assembly polls. Security was tight, with curfews and military patrols having largely brought calm to the continent’s largest oil producer. The ruling Peoples Democratic Party was projected to lose a number of states and many races were expected to be closely fought, raising concerns that desperate politicians may seek to rig. Some analysts believe that could set off another round of violence, with much of the initial rioting following the presidential election believed to have started over allegations of rigging. One potential hotspot was the state of Akwa Ibom on the edge of the oil-producing Niger Delta region, where opposition members were arrested in the run up to the vote.
