New York – The United States has called on security agencies in Nigeria to do everything possible to ensure safety at polling places and prevent violence during the April general elections.

The U.S. also urged the Nigerian government to exercise “special care’’ in some parts of the country where there were “instability’’, including the Niger Delta, Jos and some parts of the north.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson spoke to reporters on Tuesday via a teleconference.

“We are watching very closely, the potential for violence in the run-up to the Nigerian elections.

`Right now, we have seen regrettably too much of that even though the level of violence in the run-up to the 2011 elections is not as serious as it was in 2007.’’

On the restive areas, Carson said:“we hope that the government will exercise special care and caution in the management of elections there to ensure that the violence that is ongoing as a result of those local issues does not impact on the ability of the people to cast votes.’’

Carson said the April 2011 elections provided an opportunity for Nigeria to reverse `a trajectory of bad elections’’.

He added: “the elections in Nigeria in 2007 were deeply flawed and, in fact, were poorly administered and poorly run.

“They in no way reflected the ability and the capacity of Nigeria to organise and run successful elections.

“We are looking forward to Nigeria to substantially improve its election management and processes in 2011, by making them better than 2007 and 2003… a trajectory of bad elections must be reversed in the cycle.’’

The U.S. assistant secretary urged political parties and government to allow all registered voters to participate in peaceful and transparent elections.

He said the “nation’s political leadership and those who “aspire to lead must refrain from engaging in inflammatory rhetoric or acts of intimidation’’.

“Violence has no place in a democratic society or in a democratic electoral process,’’ he stressed.

The U.S. official warned that flawed elections would lead to a loss of confidence by Nigerians in their leaders, government institutions as well as democracy.

Carson commended INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega for performing “an outstanding job of managing this process and helping to reshape an election commission whose reputation had been deeply tarnished by the leadership’’.

He urged all election officials to respect Jega’s leadership and direction, and added that

INEC officials at the state level would also be scrutinised for their conduct.

He said the U.S. and UK governments had provided 30 million dollars to INEC through technical assistance.

The general elections will begin on Saturday, April 2 with the parliamentary elections; the presidential poll on April 9 and the gubernatorial elections on April 16. (NAN)