Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed an amended constitution Monday, cementing the legal framework for presidential, parliamentary and state governor elections in April.
Lawmakers initially passed an amendment bringing polls forward to January, but then voted to push them back again to April after the electoral commission said the timetable was too tight.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that thousands of delegates across the country are set to cast their votes in the ruling party's presidential primary Thursday, kicking off a contest to run Africa's most populous nation. The People's Democratic Party primary will pit Mr. Jonathan against Atiku Abubakar, a former customs chief and vice president.
A Nigerian court Monday threw out a suit brought by three PDP members to try to stop Mr. Jonathan from running in the primaries. Judge Ishaq Bello of the Abuja High Court said the suit alleging that the incumbent president's candidacy breached party rules was premature and should be filed after the primaries.
PDP rules state that power should rotate between the mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south every two years. Mr. Jonathan is from the south.
Meanwhile, Nigerian officials said Monday that gunmen suspected to be part of a radical Muslim sect have attacked a church and killed a policeman in the country's northeast, just weeks after officers were assigned to protect churches in the region.
The Sunday night attack occurred in Maiduguri, where suspected sect members have carried out a series of killings in recent months, including Christmas Eve attacks on churches.
In the central Nigerian city of Jos, relative calm returned after a weekend of rioting in another area plagued by violence between Muslims and Christians. Police quelled a new outbreak of violence on Sunday after arsonists set homes on fire.
Security officials say religious violence killed 11 people in the region on Saturday. Eight people died when Christian youths attacked a vehicle carrying Muslim passengers. Three more died at a political rally that descended into violence.
At least 80 people died in Jos during a wave of Christmas Eve bombing attacks claimed by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.
Nigerian authorities say the December 24 attacks were intended to inflame tensions between Muslims and Christians before April's presidential election.
Jos is the capital of Plateau State in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt, where the mostly Muslim north meets the mainly Christian south. Thousands of people have died in violence in and around Jos over the past decade.
Lawmakers initially passed an amendment bringing polls forward to January, but then voted to push them back again to April after the electoral commission said the timetable was too tight.
The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that thousands of delegates across the country are set to cast their votes in the ruling party's presidential primary Thursday, kicking off a contest to run Africa's most populous nation. The People's Democratic Party primary will pit Mr. Jonathan against Atiku Abubakar, a former customs chief and vice president.
A Nigerian court Monday threw out a suit brought by three PDP members to try to stop Mr. Jonathan from running in the primaries. Judge Ishaq Bello of the Abuja High Court said the suit alleging that the incumbent president's candidacy breached party rules was premature and should be filed after the primaries.
PDP rules state that power should rotate between the mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south every two years. Mr. Jonathan is from the south.
Meanwhile, Nigerian officials said Monday that gunmen suspected to be part of a radical Muslim sect have attacked a church and killed a policeman in the country's northeast, just weeks after officers were assigned to protect churches in the region.
The Sunday night attack occurred in Maiduguri, where suspected sect members have carried out a series of killings in recent months, including Christmas Eve attacks on churches.
In the central Nigerian city of Jos, relative calm returned after a weekend of rioting in another area plagued by violence between Muslims and Christians. Police quelled a new outbreak of violence on Sunday after arsonists set homes on fire.
Security officials say religious violence killed 11 people in the region on Saturday. Eight people died when Christian youths attacked a vehicle carrying Muslim passengers. Three more died at a political rally that descended into violence.
At least 80 people died in Jos during a wave of Christmas Eve bombing attacks claimed by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.
Nigerian authorities say the December 24 attacks were intended to inflame tensions between Muslims and Christians before April's presidential election.
Jos is the capital of Plateau State in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt, where the mostly Muslim north meets the mainly Christian south. Thousands of people have died in violence in and around Jos over the past decade.
2 comments:
80 people died in Jos during a wave of Christmas Eve bombing attacks claimed by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.
why this radical group,killing their fellows?
Thousands of people have died in violence in and around Jos over the past decade.
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