Africa

Home page

Africa

Nigeria security service arrests deputy opposition leader

27 January 2014 21:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Nigeria's State Security Service (SSS) arrested the deputy head of the main opposition coalition on Monday over comments he is reported to have made warning of electoral violence in presidential polls scheduled for February 2015, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Nasir el-Rufai was quoted in the daily ThisDay as saying that the election was "likely to be violent and many people are going to die," as has happened in previous elections in Africa's most populous country and top oil producer.

"El-Rufai is with us. We are interrogating him over comments he made published by a newspaper on Thursday," SSS spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar said by telephone.

The elections are expected to be the most closely fought since the end of military rule in 1999 and Nigeria is bracing for politically orchestrated violence. Trouble is traditionally stirred up either to intimidate voters before the vote or to dispute the result after it comes in.

Rufai was also quoted as saying that if the election is rigged "and the alternative is left is to get power by force, that is the reality on the ground."

The SSS put out a statement the following day warning anyone issuing such "inflammatory" statements could face criminal prosecution. Rufia was unavailable for comment on Monday.

A spokesman for the All Progressives Congress (APC), of which Rufai is the second in charge, said he could not immediately comment.