3. North Central Overview

While grouping states regionally can often help disaggregate the various conflict ecosystems in the country for more analytical clarity, in this case the variations are perhaps more disparate than in other regions. The two North Central states of Jigawa and Katsina were among the most peaceful in the country during the period of 2009–2013. Kano and Kaduna, however, had significant spikes of violence during the period. Kaduna itself has a high degree of complexity and variation, with inter-communal violence in the southern part of the state, as well as high levels of election violence in 2011 and terrorism in 2012. With the loss of candidate Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner from the Congress for Progressive Change, to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner from the Niger Delta, during the presidential elections, violent riots broke out and led to sectarian killings, with Muslim rioters killing Christians and members of ethnic groups from southern Nigeria, and Christians retaliating by killing Muslims and burning mosques and other properties. In the predominantly Christian towns of southern Kaduna, for example, violence left more than 500 dead, the majority being Muslim. Despite the police managing to protect Muslims and Christians who had fled to police stations for safety, they could not control the surge of violence occurring outside the stations and barracks. Unfortunately, the eventual subduing of protestors and mobs ended in reported human rights violations due to excessive use of force by the police (Nigeria: Post-Election Violence Killed 800 2011).