LAGOS, Nigeria — Concerned that Nigeria could face postelection turmoil, Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here on Sunday to urge President Goodluck Jonathan and his principal political rival to respect the results of the coming vote and to discourage their supporters from violent protests.
“There has been a history of violence being fomented by political parties here in previous elections,” said a senior State Department official who declined to be identified under the agency’s protocol for briefing reporters. “We hope that if there is any doubt about the election that they will use their court system and not encourage their supporters to go into the streets.”
Mr. Kerry’s itinerary included meetings with Mr. Jonathan at the State House and with Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general who is strongly challenging the Nigerian president in a nation increasingly fearful of attacks by militants from Boko Haram, a militant group linked to Al Qaeda.
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Mr. Jonathan became acting president in 2010 when his predecessor was ailing, and he won an election the next year. His party has governed Nigeria since the end of military rule in 1999, but his election in 2011 dispensed with the tradition of rotating the presidency between the largely Christian south and the predominately Muslim north.
Mr. Buhari became head of state in 1983 through a military coup but governed only until August 1985, when he was removed from power by another coup. During his term in office, he imposed austerity measures and restrictions on the press. But he is now presenting himself as the strongman Nigeria needs to confront Boko Haram.
Adam Nossiter contributed reporting from Maiduguri, Nigeria.
