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There have been a series of violent conflicts in the Kano metropolis which began in 1953 and continued until 2011 when the post-election violence erupted spreading to other states in northern Nigeria. These conflicts have been studied and well documented by scholars who interpreted the causes to be either ethnic or sectarian/religious. The sporadic outbreak of post-election violence in twelve Northern Nigerian States including Kano was different from the previous conflicts. This paper contends that the post-election violence in the Kano metropolis marked a significant paradigm shift from previous conflicts in its causes and nature of execution and targets on victims. The paper argues that the post-election violence in Kano uncharacteristically cut across ethnic and religious divides as the rioters/youth mob attacked their traditional targets, the migrant Christian and non-indigenous Muslim community and the revered Kano traditional institution and prominent Kano politicians and members of the ruling Peoples` Democratic Party (PDP) as well as the perceived supporters of former President Goodluck Jonathan. The residents’ property and party offices of other political parties were equally affected except for the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The uniqueness of the post-election violence is that the mobs that were previously mobilized by politicians against the Christian community and non-indigenous groups have now turned against them. It is this novel shift like the organized violent conflict in the riotous city of Kano that this paper seeks to investigate.

Kano, Post-Election, Violent Conflict, Northern Nigeria, Sabon-Gari,