Eight dead in Nigeria poll rioting
MINNA, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Scores of riot police were deployed in the central-western Nigerian town of Kontagora Friday after hundreds of youths protesting the outcome of a local election burned public buildings and houses.
Local government sources said eight people were killed Wednesday in rioting after disputed municipal council elections in the market town, about 90 miles northwest of the Niger state capital, Minna.
Hundreds of supporters of the opposition People's Redemption Party went on the rampage, burning buildings and houses belonging to members of the People's Democratic Party, which controls Niger state.
Police said 100 riot police had been deployed in the town.
"They are just there to watch the situation and stop the burning," Niger state Police Commissioner Gabriel Adejoh said, adding 21 people had been arrested.
Adejoh denied anyone had died during the riots, but local government sources said eight people were killed.
PRP supporters rioted after electoral authorities in Minna declared the PDP the winners of Wednesday's vote.
A local elections officer originally declared the PRP winner, but Adejoh said the officer only issued the first result under threat of his life.
"The local officer was told he would not get out of the collecting hall alive unless he declared PRP the winner," he said.
A bitter rivalry between the PDP and the PRP has triggered frequent clashes between the groups recently in Africa's most-populous country.
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