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AFP
Abuja
Nigeria’s government on Monday warned about an increase in violence before elections next month, and accused main opposition of trying to foment unrest to jeopardise vote.
Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the government had “credible intelligence” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was orchestrating “widespread violence”.
He said it was trying to whip up unrest “with a view to truncating the elections” to trigger “a constitutional crisis that could snowball into the establishment of an interim government”, he told a news conference in the capital, Abuja. Africa’s most populous nation goes to the polls on February 16 to choose a new president and parliament. Governorship and state assembly elections take place two weeks later.
Nigerian elections are often turbulent affairs, frequently marked by accusations of plotting or back-doors dealing.
President Muhammadu Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is seeking a second term but PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar is expected to run him close.
National security is a major issue, with Boko Haram Islamists still active in the northeast despite Buhari’s vow to end the insurgency.
There was no immediate response from the PDP nor Abubakar, a wealthy businessman who served as vice-president to president Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007.
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22/01/2019
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