Also, on Christmas Day in 2011, the Islamist sect Boko Haram bombed a catholic church near the nation's capital Abuja killing over 30 people.

Madalla is a town in Nigeria near the capital Abuja.

The National Assembly, like many other organs of the Nigerian government, is based in the federal capital Abuja.

Last week gunmen burst into a church and killed five worshippers and on Christmas day 50 people died in a bombing near the capital Abuja.

The day before the election a bomb went off by the National Electoral Commission offices in Suleja outside the capital Abuja killing at least eight people.

Nigeria has its capital Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory.

Returning to Nigeria afterwards, Akinola was assigned to create an Anglican presence in the new capital Abuja which was about to be built.

A bombing outside St Theresa's Church in Madalla, near Nigeria's capital Abuja, has been the most devastating in a series of attacks across the country.

On October 1, 2010 MEND planted two bombs in the capital Abuja killing 12 people and wounding 17.

Mark Doyle reports from the capital Abuja.