The polls remained calm in Bauchi and Kaduna states, though
noticeably fewer voters turned up to take part in the delayed gubernatorial
elections. Soldiers deployed in the streets blocked intersections and searched
cars, while police officers in riot gear milled around local precincts.
Many left Kaduna, 180 km away from the country’s capital of
Abuja, after the rioting and just before voting began. Shops remained closed
and a herd of cattle grazed down one empty street in the city’s downtown.
Some carried bullhorns and shouted in the local Hausa
language to draw frightened voters out of their homes.
Kaduna state’s Christian governor faces a challenge from a
Muslim opposition already emboldened by presidential results showing the region
voted against the ruling People’s Democratic Party. Allegations over voter
fraud as it became clear President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, won the
election, sparked the violence that engulfed the city and destroyed villages in
its rural pasturelands.
At least 500 people died at the hands of Muslim rioters or
Christians carrying out reprisal attacks.
“It’s not that people are afraid. ... It’s just when we
voted, we didn’t get who we voted for,” said voter Zainab Aliyu, 50, in Hausa. “Some
people were disenfranchised and decided to stay home.” In Bauchi state, polling
stations also saw low voter turnout, as a heavy security presence could be seen
on the roads in the state capital. Election officials brought in from
neighboring states often sat at the polling centers, as workers from Nigeria’s
National Youth Service Corps boycotted taking part after several members died
in the rioting last week.
The gubernatorial races carry tremendous importance because
governors represent the closest embodiment of power many ever see in a nation
of 150 million people. The positions provide many politicians with personal
fiefdoms where oil money sluices into unwatched state coffers that exceed those
of neighboring nations.
In Kaduna, Gov. Patrick Yakowa, a Christian, took office
after Muslim leader Namadi Sambo was picked to serve as the nation’s vice
president under Christian President Goodluck Jonathan. Yakowa’s ascension
sparked earlier unrest in a city where 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.
Opportunities remain few for those in the arid north, as jobs are scarce and a
formal education remains out of the reach of many in a nation where most earn
less than $2 a day.
Many burned the homes of traditional rulers across the north
in the postelection violence, something once unthinkable in a region that
values the advice of elders.
“They feel their leaders betrayed them,” said Aliko
Mohammed, a leader in a forum of northern leaders.
Most states taking part in gubernatorial and local elections
cast ballots Tuesday. Initial results announced on the state-run Nigerian
Television Authority showed opposition parties took at least two states from
ruling party People’s Democratic Party, while it picked up Kano state.
While observers said the vote appeared to be largely fair,
incidents of violence, intimidation and ballot box theft marred elections the
country hoped would show the world it had become a legitimate democracy after
12 years of civilian rule.
Yet the tension at the polls and soldiers in the street
proved otherwise. As voters thronged around one polling station, a green
armored car carrying soldiers came down the narrow street. A soldier inside
shouted at a foreign journalist to turn off her camera as another manned a
mounted machine gun on top of the vehicle.
“Please, we are protecting you and protecting our image,”
one soldier shouted of out of a loud speaker as they drove away.
