Violent crackdown

last updated 8 January 2015

Lagos, Nigeria

Thousands of police fired tear gas this week at anti-government protesters in Nigeria’s two biggest cities. The protesters were demonstrating on the anniversary of last year’s election, when Olusegun Obasanjo won a second presidential term in a vote international observers said was marred by fraud. Opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, who claims to be the true winner, said several hundred of his supporters were detained in the crackdown. He called the current government corrupt and inept. “For three years, there has been no budget,” Buhari said. “How can you talk about accountability?”