V is for Voter Violence - Nigeria

And a community response to it.

So the presidential elections led to some violence, especially in the northern part of the country. Sectarian violence has always been a part of the history of Nigerian, right from Amalgamation, and then independence in 1960. Always, there would arise a reason for the (usually) Muslim northerners to attack the Christian southerners among them and unleash mayhem and death. The worst in recent history was in 1967, and led the civil war in which Biafra tried to secede from Nigeria. The war ended and the NYSC started as one of the strategies to broker complete peace.

Unfortunately this same scheme, and worst of all, the young people that are it's lifeblood, was the target of rioters and murderers who took to the streets to protest the outcome of the presidential elections. These malcontents were offended that their Muslim candidate did not win, and blamed the youth corpers who had been in charge of the polls. Within hours, and lasting for days, youth corpers were pursued along the roads and butchered, locked up in their lodges and set ablaze, and had other atrocious acts perpetrated on them. No official number has been released so far of the number of people who died in the outrage, and no definitive action has been taken by the government so far.

And so Nigeriavillagesquare.com is sponsoring a petition for;

- All youth corpers serving in these volatile states be withdrawn immediately.
- All youth corpers serving in these volatile states be redeployed to other states of their choosing, or be excused for the rest of the service year.
- All youth corpers be excused from serving as electoral officers in the upcoming governorship elections as we are not convinced that adequate and confirmed security can be provided for them.
- The identities of all youth corpers who lost their lives in this violence be made public.

You can click here to sign the petition.