Niger Delta Gubernatorial Election Violence Update

Retired General Muhammadu Buhari (APC) won the Nigerian presidential elections on March 28, defeating incumbent President

Goodluck Jonathan (PDP) who has led the country for the past five years. Although Jonathan’s peaceful concession of the election results helped reduce the risk for post-election violence, the weeks preceding the elections included violent rallies, clashes between PDP and APC supporters, and political thugs targeting leaders of both parties. Other conflict issues in the month of March included communal clashes, protests, sexual violence, and armed robberies.

While the presidential elections were relatively peaceful in the Niger Delta (albeit with a moderate increase in the number of fatalities during the month of March), the next challenge will be to maintain peace and security during this week’s gubernatorial elections, slated for April 11. In many ways, the results of those elections will be more directly salient for local constituents and interests than the presidential, although there are signs that political thugs and militants are perhaps less committed to a single candidate or political party than sometimes feared

This picks up after the previous memo, and captures the latest trends in the nine states, including the dynamics particular to each. To read, please open the attached PDF document below.