Cases of pre-electoral violence in Nigeria (January-February 2015)

Electoral violence in Nigeria is not something new to the populace who are divided between religious and Tribal lines.

The 2011 Elections brought the issue of electoral violence to the fore front and what the first time a southerner (Ijaw Christian) Jonathan was facing off one

It was widely said by foreign groups that the candidates had been working on the sensitive Religious and tribal lines to win votes for themselves and in the process fuel up hatred between the nation’s wide and ethnically different citizens.


In 2011 over 1000 people died due to electoral violence and now the citizens are agitated and scared for another round of the plague of democracy.

In Kaduna, which witnessed much of the attacks in 2011, one man told VOA:

“My wife has been pestering me for the past three months,” said a man. “Even today, she called me to say ‘Are we ready to move to a safer ground?’”

“Nobody wants to die for nothing. I myself, I am planning to relocate to the southern part of Kaduna where I will not be hearing sounds of war, drums of crisis, burning of tires and teargas, and all those kind of things,” said a woman.


This year’s election is said to be one of the most heated democratic elections in the nation and also pits the 2011 candidates against each other once more.

Its gotten to a point in the country again where youths have engaged in disobeying the law and taking matters into their own hands.

On January 10 2015, Youths in Jos burnt cars belonging to PDP Jonathan campaign organization, chanting Buhari slogans “Sai Buhari”, which is Hausa for “It has to be Buhari”, in reference to the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Jonathan’s main opponent, Muhammadu Buhari.


Buhari immediately condemned the attack, saying:

”I have received news of violence in Jos today. I condemn this violence in its entirety. I reject any supporter who resorts to violence. Like I said after the attack on our supporters in Rivers this week, elections are not war. Electoral violence is unacceptable.”

 “We can and we will bring #Change to Nigeria peacefully. I call on the PDP to join this call for peace. Every Nigerian life is sacred,” he added. ‎

Jonathan during his campaign stops on both Katsina (Buhari’s Homestate) and Bauchi was attacked by people alleged to have been hired by the opposition, The APC.

Jonathan was attacked by a mob in Katsina on 21st January 2015, as he visited the family home of former president, late Umaru Yar’adua.

The mob who chanted Sai Buhari besieged the President’s motorcade and as the DSS raced to the airport, they were stoned.

Two days later in Bauchi, the Jonathan campaign trail faced another trial in Bauchi state, when about 6 security aides were injured as they protected the President from the anger of the masses.

The president was on his way to Bauchi airport, when broom-wielding youths chanting “sai Buhari” attacked the convoy with a hail of stones, some of which apparently caught some presidential bodyguards protecting him.


Security personnel shot canisters of tear gas in an attempt to disperse the unruly crowd.

The convoy was, however, able to manoeuvre its way to the Bauchi airport, where the president left for Makurdi, Benue State, for the next leg of his campaign.

He had told the crowd of supporters at the Ibrahim Babangida Square, Bauchi venue of the rally, that no “retrogressive forces” could force the PDP out of government.

This was the second time in four days, that Jonathan’s convoy had escaped death by his own people.

On January 24th, alleged thugs belonging to the PDP attacked the venue of the All Progressives Congress governorship rally in Okrika local Government Area of the state.

The Police Commissioner, Mr Dan Bature said that the thugs had attacked by 4:am with dynamite.

No lives were lost but the rally was stopped and public systems were destroyed.


A Nigerian human rights body, The National Human Rights Commission, said that in the past 50 days, 61 incidences of election violence occurred in 22 states with 58 people killed.

The body’s head, Chidi Odinkalu said that in three states, the amount of crimes have been on the high end.

He said: The three states are Lagos, with 11 incidences and 22 persons killed; Kaduna with three incidences and nine people killed; and Rivers with one incidence and at least six deaths.

Both Parties, the APC and the PDP had earlier signed an accord to not try to induce their followers to electoral violence, The elections are still five weeks away and with 58  people dead, the nation is praying to move past this stage as one.




NAIJ.COM