Nigeria elections may spur kidnappings

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria – Rival Nigerian politicians are arming militias in advance of April elections, in hopes of rigging the outcome and gaining control of millions in oil revenue at stake.

Violence already has risen dramatically since the beginning of the year in this southern oil city. Dozens of foreign workers have been kidnapped, and a Lebanese worker was shot and killed. Last month, scores of heavily armed militants shot their way into the heart of Port Harcourt to free a jailed commander.


April’s elections are meant to cement civilian rule in Nigeria with the country’s first transfer of power between elected presidents. The nation lurched between a series of military dictatorships and short-lived, corrupt civilian governments for four decades before President Olusegun Obasanjo was elected in 1999.

But too many Nigerians see the elections as a straightforward fight to control booming oil revenues.

AP