KADUNA, Nigeria - Police in northernNigeria have arrested hundreds of people after deadly protestsin opposition strongholds in the mostly Muslim north followingPresident Goodluck Jonathan's election victory.
At least 80 people have been killed in major cities alone,hundreds injured and thousands displaced by the violence afterJonathan won Saturday's vote. His rival, northerner andex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, says the result was rigged. Those perceived to be supporters of the ruling party havebeen stabbed, hacked and shot to death by angry youths sinceJonathan, a Christian southerner, defeated Buhari. Churches,mosques, homes and shops have been set ablaze. The morgue at the Bara Dikko hospital in the city of Kadunawas overflowing. It had 20 bodies in its cold chambers. Thecharred remains of at least another 20 lay on the floor. Kaduna's deputy police commissioner, Nwodibo Ekechukwu, saidhundreds of people had been arrested. "We're talking of over 400 suspects. They are in policecustody. They were arrested for various acts of mischief,criminality and homicide," he said. Police further north in Kano, the region's most populouscity, said at least 50 people were arrested there. Health workers collected blackened corpses in the streets ofKaduna on Tuesday, one of them apparently "necklaced" with aflaming tyre. A mosque was still burning, and the remains oftyres and barricades littered the streets. Reuters