Nigeria unrest after poll veto

Lawyers went on strike yesterday and students ignited barricades and fought police in scattered disturbances nationwide to protest against the annulment of the 12 June presidential elections, AP reports from Lagos.

It was the worst unrest since the military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, announced last week that he was voiding the ballot meant to bring in civilian government. He said new elections must be held because the previous vote, which he organised, was corrupt. His opponents say the vote was annulled because its apparent winner, Moshood Abiola, is a member of the Yoruba tribe, which has long been shut out of political power. Much of the violence was in the southern Yoruba heartland but it was spreading through north and west Nigeria.