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KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) – Security forces deployed on the streets of Nigeria's northern cities Monday to try to contain protests by youths angered at results showing President Goodluck Jonathan won the presidential election.
Votes counted from all but one of Nigeria's 36 states showed Jonathan, the president from the southern oil-producing Niger Delta, had beaten Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler from the Muslim north, in the first round.
Observers have called the poll the fairest in decades in Africa's most populous nation but Buhari's supporters accuse the ruling party of rigging. Results show how politically polarized the country is, with Buhari sweeping states in the Muslim north and Jonathan winning the largely Christian south.
Plumes of smoke rose into the air in parts of the northern city of Kaduna as protesters set fire to barricades of tires. Groups of youths shouted "We want Buhari, we want Buhari."
Soldiers used whips to disperse people gathering in the streets of Kano, the most populous city in the north. A Reuters reporter heard gunfire in one neighborhood and protesters hurled rocks in the dusty backstreets.
"Supporters of Buhari are creating havoc. There are Buhari strongholds where there is a riot. We're just trying to get away but the police are whipping people," said a local trader who gave his name as Ikechukwu, as people ran down a main street.
Fuel stations, shops and market stalls shut down.
An armored personnel carrier, armed police and soldiers formed a barricade around the electoral commission office.
"We don't know exactly what's happening but we are expecting problems because of the election result. We will have the situation under control soon," said Agbo Omaji, a police inspector in charge of securing the electoral office.
Residents in the town of Zaria said a church was burned overnight and soldiers dispersed scuffles between rival supporters at the gates of the Emir's palace.
"People are afraid to go out. The military have been brought in to provide security and they're out on the streets," said one resident in Kaduna, where an electoral office was set ablaze.
CLEAR WIN
Nigeria has a history of rigged and violent elections but Saturday's vote was deemed by many Nigerians, and foreign observers, to have been a vast improvement on the past, with the voting process orderly and little unrest on the day itself.
A Reuters tally of results from 35 of 36 states put Jonathan on 22 million votes to 12 million for Buhari. There are nowhere near enough voters in the remaining state for him to catch up.
Results from one of the last remaining local government areas in the rugged and remote southeastern state of Cross River were being brought by canoe, and the electoral commission was expected to announce final results later Monday.
The outright win for Jonathan could ease worries over potential disruptions to crude exports from Africa's biggest oil and gas industry -- far away from the disturbances in the north -- and lift local financial markets which had been unnerved by the prospect of a potential run-off.
But Buhari's camp -- which had urged its supporters throughout the campaign to make sure their votes counted -- said some results looked suspicious, especially where turnout had been exceptionally high in some of Jonathan's strongholds.
"In most of the southeast and south-south, no real elections took place," former government minister Nasir el-Rufai, a Buhari supporter, told Reuters late Sunday.
"In the southwest and the north, the results have no relation to what happened at the polling units and we will prove it in due course," he said.
Buhari, who also lost elections in 2003 and 2007, has repeatedly said Nigerians would not accept another rigged vote. He told Reuters Saturday he would not go to court to challenge the outcome but that his party may chose to do so.
(For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/ )
(Additional reporting by Mike Oboh in Kano, Sahabi Yahaya and Joe Bavier in Kaduna, Austin Ekeinde in Port Harcourt; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Votes counted from all but one of Nigeria's 36 states showed Jonathan, the president from the southern oil-producing Niger Delta, had beaten Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler from the Muslim north, in the first round.
Observers have called the poll the fairest in decades in Africa's most populous nation but Buhari's supporters accuse the ruling party of rigging. Results show how politically polarized the country is, with Buhari sweeping states in the Muslim north and Jonathan winning the largely Christian south.
Plumes of smoke rose into the air in parts of the northern city of Kaduna as protesters set fire to barricades of tires. Groups of youths shouted "We want Buhari, we want Buhari."
Soldiers used whips to disperse people gathering in the streets of Kano, the most populous city in the north. A Reuters reporter heard gunfire in one neighborhood and protesters hurled rocks in the dusty backstreets.
"Supporters of Buhari are creating havoc. There are Buhari strongholds where there is a riot. We're just trying to get away but the police are whipping people," said a local trader who gave his name as Ikechukwu, as people ran down a main street.
Fuel stations, shops and market stalls shut down.
An armored personnel carrier, armed police and soldiers formed a barricade around the electoral commission office.
"We don't know exactly what's happening but we are expecting problems because of the election result. We will have the situation under control soon," said Agbo Omaji, a police inspector in charge of securing the electoral office.
Residents in the town of Zaria said a church was burned overnight and soldiers dispersed scuffles between rival supporters at the gates of the Emir's palace.
"People are afraid to go out. The military have been brought in to provide security and they're out on the streets," said one resident in Kaduna, where an electoral office was set ablaze.
CLEAR WIN
Nigeria has a history of rigged and violent elections but Saturday's vote was deemed by many Nigerians, and foreign observers, to have been a vast improvement on the past, with the voting process orderly and little unrest on the day itself.
A Reuters tally of results from 35 of 36 states put Jonathan on 22 million votes to 12 million for Buhari. There are nowhere near enough voters in the remaining state for him to catch up.
Results from one of the last remaining local government areas in the rugged and remote southeastern state of Cross River were being brought by canoe, and the electoral commission was expected to announce final results later Monday.
The outright win for Jonathan could ease worries over potential disruptions to crude exports from Africa's biggest oil and gas industry -- far away from the disturbances in the north -- and lift local financial markets which had been unnerved by the prospect of a potential run-off.
But Buhari's camp -- which had urged its supporters throughout the campaign to make sure their votes counted -- said some results looked suspicious, especially where turnout had been exceptionally high in some of Jonathan's strongholds.
"In most of the southeast and south-south, no real elections took place," former government minister Nasir el-Rufai, a Buhari supporter, told Reuters late Sunday.
"In the southwest and the north, the results have no relation to what happened at the polling units and we will prove it in due course," he said.
Buhari, who also lost elections in 2003 and 2007, has repeatedly said Nigerians would not accept another rigged vote. He told Reuters Saturday he would not go to court to challenge the outcome but that his party may chose to do so.
(For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://af.reuters.com/ )
(Additional reporting by Mike Oboh in Kano, Sahabi Yahaya and Joe Bavier in Kaduna, Austin Ekeinde in Port Harcourt; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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