Nigeria election: President Goodluck Jonathan accuses

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes because of the violence, says the Red Cross.

"I don't want to accuse anybody but we believe that people must be behind this," Mr Jonathan told CNN.

Poll runner-up Muhammadu Buhari denies instigating the "sad, unfortunate and totally unwarranted" events.

Nigeria is divided by rivalry between the predominantly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south, which also have cultural, ethnic and linguistic differences - so much so that the presidency has often alternated between people who come from each of the two halves of the country, in an attempt to keep the peace.

Riots broke out in the north after Mr Jonathan, a southerner, emerged as the winner of the presidential poll. A civil rights group says the unrest has left more than 200 dead, while hundreds of arrests have been made.

Gen Buhari has said the Nigerian election commission's computers were programmed to disadvantage his party in some parts of Nigeria.

But he urged his supporters to refrain from attacks, saying: "It is wrong for you to allow miscreants to infiltrate your ranks and perpetrate such dastardly acts as the mindless destruction of worship places.

"Needless to say, this act is worse than the rigging of the elections."

Umar Marigar of the Red Cross told the BBC on Wednesday that the number of displaced people had trebled in the last day - from 16,000 to 48,000, mainly in the north.

But he said that, in the southern state of Anambra, 8,400 people had sought refuge at the Onitsha military barracks because they feared reprisal attacks against northerners.

He added: ''The violent protests turn from political into ethno-religious crisis. As such, people might like to engage in retaliatory attacks. This is what we are always afraid of."

See www.bbc.co.uk for full version.