People read newspapers at a newspaper stand in Onitsha, Nigeria, on February 26, 2023 following he Nigeria presidential and general election.
Patrick Meinhardt | Afp | Getty Images
Officials counted votes in Nigeria’s elections on Saturday, with people hoping for a reset after years of worsening violence and hardship under outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, undeterred by delays at some polling stations.
The electoral commission said the official results could possibly be expected from late on Sunday. By the evening, some polling stations were already counting ballots, while voting was still happening at others and had not taken place elsewhere.
Some voting was now expected to happen on Sunday.
Whoever wins will face a litany of crises. Africa’s most populous nation is battling Islamist insurgencies within the northeast, an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom, conflict between herders and farmers, shortages of money, fuel and power, in addition to deep-rooted corruption and poverty.
Reuters reporters at locations across the country saw some polling stations closing on the planned time of two:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) while others had yet to open.
“I’ll wait here to solid my vote. If I do not vote how will things change?” said 23-year-old Halima Sherif, whose polling station within the northern city of Kano had not began operating by closing time.
Some states were expected to announce results on Sunday and the ultimate tally from all 36 states plus the federal capital Abuja was expected inside five days of voting. The election can also be for National Assembly seats.
There have been scattered violent incidents on Saturday, though not on the size seen in previous elections within the country of over 200 million people.
Buhari, a retired army general, is stepping down after serving the utmost eight years allowed by the structure but failing to deliver on his pledge to bring back order and security across Nigeria, Africa’s top oil-producing country.
The competition to succeed him is wide open, with candidates from two parties which have alternated in power for the reason that end of army rule in 1999 facing an unusually strong challenge from a minor party candidate popular amongst young voters.
Officials from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) cited technical problems with a latest biometric anti-fraud voter accreditation system, the late arrival of vehicles to move them and the absence of voter registers as causes of delays.
“It’s frustrating that INEC aren’t prepared for us. All we would like is simply to vote,” said Sylvester Iwu, who was amongst a big crowd waiting at a polling station in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State within the southern oil-producing Niger Delta.
In a televised news briefing, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said six biometric machines had been stolen in northern Katsina State and two in southern Delta State. He also acknowledged the delays but said voters would have the option to solid their ballots.
“The election will hold and nobody might be disenfranchised,” he said.
Yakubu said at a later briefing that voting would happen on Sunday in several wards in Yenagoa that had experienced severe disruption on Saturday.
Scattered violence
In northeast Borno State, the epicenter of Islamist insurgency, suspected fighters from the Boko Haram group fired mortar shells in the agricultural Gwoza area, killing one child, wounding 4 others and disrupting voting, army sources said.
In Abuja, a team from the anti-corruption Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was attacked by thugs just after arresting a person on suspicion of paying for a gaggle of individuals’s votes using a banking app, the EFCC said.
In Lagos, a Reuters TV crew saw police arrest 4 men on suspicion of intimidating voters, while an election observer from an area civil society group said he had seen thugs armed with knives, chains and bottles smashing ballot boxes.
In most areas, nevertheless, the day appeared to have unfolded peacefully despite frustrations over the delays.
The major contenders to succeed Buhari are former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, former vp Atiku Abubakar, 76, of the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party, and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, 61, of the smaller Labour Party.
All three voted of their home states, surrounded by chaotic scrums of reporters and supporters.
“The electoral process cannot achieve 100% perfection,” Tinubu told reporters after voting. “People must tolerate that. You’ve to simply accept the outcomes.”
Tinubu and Atiku, as he is thought in Nigeria, are each political heavyweights with many years of networking behind them. Each Muslims, Tinubu is an ethnic Yoruba from the southwest and Atiku is a Fulani from the northeast.
Obi, a Christian from the Igbo ethnic group, has less of a political machine but has used a slick social media campaign to generate huge enthusiasm amongst young voters, with some even calling themselves the “Obidients”.
INEC says its latest Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that identifies voters using biometric data would help avert fraud. Reuters reporters in some locations said officials were struggling to get the BVAS devices to work, while in others the system was functioning easily.
Despite INEC’s precautions, analysts have warned there are still risks that cash-strapped residents could possibly be vulnerable to vote-buying attempts by candidates.