Newsone is reporting at least 500 people died in religious rioting that followed Nigeria's presidential election, a civil rights group said Sunday, as volatile state gubernatorial elections loom this week.
Meanwhile, police in the northern state of Bauchi said that at least 11 recent college graduates who helped run polling stations as part of the country's national youth service corps have been killed in postelection violence, while other female poll workers have been raped.
The Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria said that the worst-hit area was Zonkwa, a town in rural Kaduna state, where more than 300 people died in rioting. It has also been reported that killings took place in the towns of Kafanchan and Zangon Kataf, as well as the state capital of Kaduna.
Muslim opposition supporters began riots as results from the April 16 election showed that Christian President Goodluck Jonathan had won the vote. Many here in the predominantly Muslim north of Africa's most populous nation felt the next president should have been from their region because a Muslim president died last year before he could complete his term.
Retaliatory violence by Christians soon followed, and officials say that more than 40,000 people have now fled their homes. Authorities are fearful that releasing any official death toll will only prompt more fighting, but witnesses believe that hundreds have been killed across the north.
While we're quibbling over Libya, any thoughts about intervening in this fiasco? Students are being killed and women are being raped over a presidential election that continues to lead to more violence. Four young poll workers were burned alive in Bauchi last week, and what are we doing? Need we remind folks that the violence is related to religious differences and the latest massacre happened on Easter Sunday?
Read more at Newsone.
In other news: Senators Push for More Involvement in Libya.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.