LAGOS, Nigeria -- President Shehu Shagari's National Party of Nigeria won further victories Tuesday in gubernatorial elections, triggering new violence in two states and angry charges of massive ballot-rigging.
With results in from eight of the 19 states, Shagari's NPN registered four victories. The NPN won seven state governorships in the 1979 contest but was fighting hard to capture as many as 15 seats this time, party officials said.
Police imposed a dusk-to dawn curfew in the north central Plateau state Monday after 'serious clashes' between supporters of Shagari and followers of the Nigerian People's Party, according to news reports reaching Lagos Tuesday.
Plateau is held by the NPP but results there have yet to be declared.
In the western Ogun state, currently held by the Unity Party of Nigeria, demonstrators set fire to the government television station in Abeokuta, disrupting transmission.
There was no official word of casualties or arrests although newspapers and local politicians spoke of up to 10 deaths in the western part of the country.
Police confirmed at least nine people were killed in election violence, with the worst trouble centered in Oyo state a traditional UPN stronghold.
Seven deaths occured in the Oyo university town of Ibadan, and in the town of Ilesha an NPN candidate for the state assembly was burned to death in his home. The state has been under an overnight curfew since Sunday.
The violence stemmed from voters' anger over alleged election fraud by the NPN.
Latest results exacerbated the dissatisfaction, with the NPN registering gains in four states: Anambra, Bendel, Borno and Oyo.
In Oyo, Ibadan was quiet, but authorities guarded against further violence as citizens learned of the defeat of UPN governor Bola Ige by the NPN's Omolulu Olunloyo. The NPN gained 58 percent against the UPN's 40 percent.
The biggest upset was in eastern Anambra state, a stronghold of the Nigeria People's Party of Nnamdi Azikiwe, a former president of Nigeria.
NPP chairman Adeniran Ogunsaya described his party's defeat by the NPN in Anambra as 'barefaced robbery.'
The NPN vote tripled within a week compared to the NPN's showing in the presidential elections Aug. 6. They leaped from 385,000 to just over 900,000. 'The extent of the roguery betrays itself,' Ogunsaya said.
In the state capital, Enugu, defeated governor Jim Nwobodo said he would challenge the result and warned of the anger among his supporters who 'would not accept the result.'
In northern Borno state, the NPN's Ashak Jarma captured the governorship from the incumbent Mohammad Goni. Goni was elected in 1979 under the Greater Nigeria People's Party banner but ran on the UPN ticket this time.
