Nigeria Elections

Benedicte Kurzen has been covering the Presidential elections and the post election violence in Nigeria. The April 16 Nigeria election, according to official results from the national election commission, was won by the incumbent president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan with 57 percent of the vote. However, the election has caused massive post-election violence that erupted in northern parts of the country by individuals rejecting the loss by the main presidential challenger, General Muhammadu Buhari.

The violence has resulted in at least 200 deaths, thousands injured and the displacement of more than 40,000 people. The number of dead may be much higher because of the fear that releasing casualty figures may ignite revenge killings in parts of the country.

Dr. Jonathan won in states located in the mostly Christian southern parts of Nigeria while General Buhari won convincingly in core Muslim states of northern Nigeria. Christian places of worship, ethnic northern minorities and families originally from southern parts of Nigeria were major targets of the post-election violence.