Violence mars ruling party primaries

Primaries organised by Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday and Tuesday to choose candidates for next month’s local council elections were marred by factional violence. At least two people died and dozens of others were injured.

The deaths occurred during clashes in the central city of Ilorin between rival groups of PDP and opposition All People's Party supporters, according to police sources. "One person was shot and killed while another was stabbed to death as thugs from rival factions fought," a police spokesman in the city, located in Kwara State, told IRIN.

In the southern state of Rivers, two days of violence disrupted the primaries in Okrika Island
and the state capital, Port Harcourt, leaving several people injured. Residents of Okrika said hundreds of youths armed with clubs and other weapons fought one another on the streets of the island.

The Guardian daily reported on Wednesday that five youths abducted during the fighting were still missing. The paper reported Mr Nemi Adokiye, a senior official of the Rivers State government and resident of Okrika as blaming “highly placed” politicians for arming the thugs and sponsoring the violence.

"The current atmosphere (in the town) is tense and there is a siege mentality. Everybody is scared and afraid," he was quoted as saying.

In Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil industry capital, truckloads of policemen were deployed at the PDP secretariat to quell violence that erupted following a protest by hundreds of youths against the party's failure to hold primaries in the Obio/Akpor local council area on Monday. Two people sustained stab wounds while a third person was shot in the leg by a policeman.

In the southern oil town of Warri, Delta State, armed soldiers patrolled the streets and set up roadblocks at key entry points into the town in the wake of violence there on Sunday between factions of the PDP.

Lt-Col Lar Dogo, commander of the Amphibious Brigade based in Warri, said there were intelligence reports indicating that large quantities of arms were being sent into the town for use by political thugs.

There were also reports of violence between rival factions of the PDP in the northeastern state of Adamawa. The PDP primaries in Adamawa were hotly disputed, and the results of the voting have not been released.

The widespread political violence has raised fears that the council polls, scheduled for 10 August, might be marred by unrest. This would not augur well for general elections set for the first quarter of 2003.

Next year’s polls are generally considered a key test for Nigeria’s new democracy, which ended more than 15 years of military rule in 1999. No civilian government in Nigeria’s history has conducted general elections successfully, and the turmoil arising from past elections had provided the military with a pretext for seizing power.