Nigeria president: Vote to go ahead despite riots

[April 21, 2011]  LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Thursday that next week's gubernatorial elections will go ahead, despite the riots that have left more than 100 dead and forced 40,000 others to flee following the recent presidential vote in Africa's most populous nation.

Muslim rioters burned homes, churches and police stations after results showed Nigeria's Christian president had beaten his closest Muslim opponent in Saturday's vote. Reprisal attacks by Christians began almost immediately. Some Christian community leaders have threatened to boycott Tuesday's elections for state governors because of security concerns.

"I assure you all that calm is being restored in troubled parts of the country and that the elections scheduled for next Tuesday will go on as planned," Jonathan said in a televised address to the nation early Thursday.

Jonathan also urged religious leaders "not to use the sacredness of our places of worship to promote messages that could lead to hate."

Nigeria has a long history of violent and rigged polls since it abandoned a revolving door of military rulers and embraced democracy 12 years ago. However, observers largely said Saturday's presidential election appeared to be fair, and the U.S. State Department said it was a significant improvement over the last poll in 2007.

The nation of 150 million people is divided between the Christian-dominated south and the Muslim north. A dozen states across Nigeria's north have Islamic Shariah law in place, though the area remains under the control of secular state governments.

Some fear this week's deadly violence will keep voters from returning to the polls to cast votes for governor.

"If there is no adequate security in place, we are afraid Christians may not be able to participate in the gubernatorial election," said the Rev. Musa M. Tula, Bauchi state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria. "This is because we can no longer afford to lose the lives and properties of our people."

Thousands have been killed in religious violence across Nigeria in the past decade. In Kaduna alone, more than 2,000 died as the government moved to enact Islamic Shariah law in 2000. In 2002, rioting over a newspaper article suggesting the Prophet Muhammad would have married a Miss World pageant contestant killed dozens here. But the roots of the sectarian conflict across the north often have more to do with struggles for political and economic dominance.

Many northerners wanted the country's ruling party to nominate a Muslim candidate this year because President Goodluck Jonathan -- a Christian from the south -- had only taken power because the Muslim elected leader died before finishing his term. However, Jonathan prevailed in the ruling party's primary and became its candidate for president.

[Associated Press; By KRISTA LARSON]

Associated Press writer Shehu Saulawa in Bauchi, Nigeria, contributed to this report.

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