Rioting wracks Nigeria after poll

Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan has been declared the winner of Nigeria's poll, sparking rioting in the north of the country as supporters of his opponent cried foul.

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Nigeria's electoral commission on Monday officially declared incumbent Goodluck Jonathan the winner of the country's presidential election, as rioting left hundreds of people wounded and an unknown number of people killed.


Goodluck captured 57 percent of the vote, the electoral commission said.

"Goodluck E. Jonathan of PDP, having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes, is hereby declared the winner and is declared elected," electoral chief Attahiru Jega said.

His main challenger, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, scored 12.2 million votes for 31 percent.

Jonathan's vote total was 22.5 million.

Deadly riots had earlier broken out across the country's mainly Muslim north over results indicating Jonathan would win, raising concerns over regional divisions in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer.

The riots left 276 people wounded and at least 15,000 displaced in northern Nigeria, a Red Cross disaster management official said Monday.

"We have been supporting and assisting 276, and evacuated them to hospital. We are planning to give shelter to about 15,000 displaced," Umar Abdul Mairiga, the Nigeria Red Cross disaster management coordinator, told AFP.

The figures were from 10 of the 14 affected states, he said, adding that the number of displaced was likely to rise once assessment of the remaining states was completed.

The death toll from the violence could not be immediately established.

Both Nigeria's government and Red Cross officials confirmed people had been killed but failed to give figures.

Mairiga said the worst affected states were Kano, Kaduna and Gombe.



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Source: AFP

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