By Tume Ahemba LAGOS, April 4 (Reuters) - Nigeria's landmark vote later this month risks being tainted by worsening political violence and the government's partisan meddling in the electoral process, a New York-based rights group said on Wednesday. Human Rights Watch said politicians in many of Nigeria's 36 states have mobilised and armed criminal gangs ahead of the poll to harass and intimidate opponents and rig the elections. Scores of people have died since November in clashes between supporters of rival political parties but the police have failed to investigate or prosecute politicians behind the violence, as was the case in the last elections, in 2003, the group said. "It seems clear that ... Nigerian voters will again face the threat of violence, intimidation and fraud," Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch said in a report presented in Lagos. "The Nigerian government should ensure that these elections mark a sharp departure from the violence and corruption that has marred the political system," Takirambudde said. Nigerians are due to elect state governors and legislators on April 14, and the president and federal legislators a week later in polls that should mark the first transition from one elected leader to another in Africa's most populous country. Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 after 30 years of almost continuous military rule, but violence remains a central part of the political system. The build-up to the April vote has been marred by sporadic fighting between supporters of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), which controls 28 states, and the opposition battling to wrest power from it. INDIFFERENT POLICE Twelve people were injured in fighting between supporters of PDP and those of opposition parties in southwest Ogun state on Tuesday, a day after three people were killed in neighbouring Oyo state, local media said. PDP and opposition Action Congress supporters also clashed in Lagos on Monday. Four people were killed in clashes between PDP supporters and those of the main opposition All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) in the northeastern state of Bauchi last Wednesday. Unconfirmed local media reports say scores were killed in fighting between PDP and ANPP supporters in the past week in the remote central state of Nasarawa. "Electoral violence poses a tremendous threat to voters on polling day," said Takirambudde. "But Nigeria's police appear to be standing by as powerful politicians mobilise gangs to undermine the vote." Human Rights Watch said a shoddy voter registration and the government's use of its anti-graft agency to bar opposition candidates including Vice President Atiku Abubakar have raised further doubts about the fairness and credibility of the polls. Abubakar has fallen out with his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is doing everything he can to stop the vice president from running for the top job. Abubakar has been disqualified on the basis of an indictment for corruption which he says was politically motivated. He is fighting several court cases and his situation remains unclear. "If the April polls are badly flawed, the international community must not remain silent as it did after the rigging of Nigeria's 2003 elections," Takirambudde said.
