The bloodiest election ever! 800 people were murdered, 65 thousand were rendered homeless

Election Commission Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has announced that voting for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 will start from April 19 in 7 phases till June 1. At the same time, election results will come on June 4. During this period, the Model Code of Conduct will remain in force in the country. If any political party, leader, candidate or any common man violates the code of conduct, strict action will be taken against him. CEC says that if any person posts a message inciting religious, caste or any kind of violence on social media, then strict action will be taken against him. On this occasion, we are remembering the bloodiest election of recent times.

Violence during and after election campaigns and voting has a long history around the world. According to the report of Human Rights Watch, the world’s bloodiest election took place in 2011. In fact, in April 2011, Goodluck Jonathan became the President again in the elections of Nigeria. This was considered the most fair election in the electoral history of Nigeria. But, after his victory, there was so much violence in the country for the next 3 days that the whole world was shocked to see it. More than 800 people were killed in the post-election violence. At the same time, more than 65,000 people were forced to flee their homes.

How violence broke out after the elections
The people of the Muslim community in the North could not digest the defeat of Goodluck Jonathan’s main rival, former military ruler Muhammad Buhari. They refused to accept the defeat of their leader. Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change party, or CPC, went to court to demand fresh elections in some areas. Corinne Dufka, West Africa researcher at the American rights group, said the April elections were heralded as one of the fairest in Nigeria’s history, but they were also one of the bloodiest. In fact, in Nigeria, Muslims became angry after Southern Christian Goodluck Jonathan was declared the winner. This led to riots in the northern part of the country.

Enraged by Buhari’s defeat, Muslims burnt down Christian houses, shops and churches. (symbolic picture)

Burnt down house, shop, church, mosque
Enraged by Buhari’s defeat, Muslims burnt down Christian houses, shops and churches. The riots, which started as election violence, took the shape of communal riots within a few hours. After this, the people of the Christian community got enraged and in reaction they also burnt down the houses, shops and mosques of the Muslims. After the riots subsided, Jonathan formed a panel of religious leaders, traditional rulers and lawyers to investigate the violence. In this incident, Buhari’s supporters said that no one had instigated the riots that took place after the April 16, 2011 elections. At the same time, Jonathan’s ruling People’s Democratic Party, or PDP, blamed its opponents for the violence.

Also read – Model Code of Conduct imposed, if you make this mistake then you can also go to jail

Leaders made provocative comments
PDP had then said that the violence was carried out in a planned manner after the elections. The Christian community was targeted especially in those areas where Buhari’s CPC party had won a landslide victory. After Goodluck’s victory, CPC leaders made provocative comments. He also gave direct instructions to the people of his community, which instigated violence. Goodluck Jonathan got 59 percent votes in this election. At the same time, Buhari got 32 percent votes. Buhari was ahead of Goodluck in almost all the northern states. After this, Goodluck greatly strengthened local democratic institutions to prevent political violence.

Also read – How powerful is the Election Commission, what work has to be done, this Election Commissioner had stopped the elections.

500 people were taken into custody
500 people were detained in Northern Kaduna during the investigation into the violence. Cases were filed against them. According to the report of Human Rights Watch, the southern states were also affected by violence. The ethnic communities of the South were also targeted. The report said that this violence was related to the ongoing rivalry over resources and problems like citizenship policies. Members of the National Youth Organization also came under the grip of this violence. Let us tell you that elections were held in Nigeria under his supervision. According to Human Rights Watch, some of those who took shelter in the police station to escape the riots were raped and then murdered.

500 people were detained in Northern Kaduna during the investigation into the violence.

‘Police record is not good’
Human Rights Watch had then said that even in the past, the police and government prosecutors had rarely punished anyone in cases of such violence. The organization said that the record of the administration in this matter has not been good. There has definitely been some improvement in the security forces, but there is still a lot of scope for improvement in the police. However, the army had tried its best to deal with these incidents.

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Tag: 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 2024 Loksabha Election, Christians, Communal riot, Muslim, violent riots