PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULT AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN KADUNA-NIGERIA

Nigeria is a key player in Africa Affairs and an important participant in global matters. The country is populous and potentially one of the well-endowed nations. Based on the 2006 Population and Housing Census report, it population is put over 144 million (NPC 2006). It is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse nations. It comprises ethnic nationalities put between 250 to 450 groups (Idahosa, 1997). From the reforms of Danfodio, Sufi orders in colonial Nigeria, and the arrival of Christianity, religion and politics have been the source of violence because religious militants that envision a new kind of society, and seek to base values in interpersonal relationship on religions principles and a strong regionalism. Religious fulfills a role of political opposition (id). The mobilization of ethnic-religious sentiments and solidarity seeking to gain or retain relevance has fueled anxiety, suspicion, fear of domination and outright conflicts (Osumah and Okar 2009) Nigeria is usually characterized as widely divided state in which major political issues are vigorously and violently contested along lines of complex ethnic, religious and regional divisions in the country (Smyth and Robin, 2001).