Election violence hits Nigeria

Clashes flared across Nigeria between police and rival political factions yesterday amid heightened tension caused by today's parliamentary election.

An unknown number of people died in the latest outbreak of violence which has beset preparations in the past few weeks for the country's first election since military dictatorship gave way to democracy in 1999.

Sporadic clashes have deepened religious and ethnic divisions between the mainly Christian south and Muslim north in Africa's most populous country.

President Olusegun Obasanjo warned of "disaster" if the election process was derailed.

Nigerians also go to the polls next Saturday in the presidential election.

Fears of fraud have compounded logistical problems of registering eligible voters out of a population of 120 million. The courts rejected an effort by two opposition parties citing irregularities to have the ballot postponed.

Violence erupted in the central states of Benue and Kwara as well as the Niger delta yesterday. Several deaths were reported in Benue. In Ibadan, in the south-west, Lamidi Adedibu, an official of the president's Peoples Democratic party, was arrested after police fought with bodyguards suspected of abducting four opposition activists.