More than 500 people were killed in post-election violence last week in the mostly Muslim north, a Nigerian human rights group said on April 24, and it warned of further unrest during state elections. At least 11 recent college graduates who helped run polling stations as part of the country’s national youth service corps were among those killed and other female poll workers have been raped, police also said.
Nigeria’s Civil Rights Congress (CRC) said more than 500 people were killed in three towns alone – Zonkwa, Kafanchan and Zangon Kataf – in the southern part of Kaduna state, one of the worst-hit areas. “The victims were encircled, raided and hacked to death and their homes burned,” CRC president Shehu Sani said in a report based on testimony from the group’s members in the communities. Churches, mosques, homes and shops were set ablaze in the rioting. Although a military-enforced curfew brought the violence under control in major cities after little more than a day, soldiers took longer to deploy to more remote towns.
Youths launched protests in northern towns and cities after President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, was declared the victor of the April 16 election, defeating former military ruler and northern Muslim Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari says the count was rigged and his supporters have refused to accept defeat.