Nigerians yesterday braved long queues, long delays in kick starting ballot casting and sporadic violence in some areas to vote for successor of outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari in a tightly fought race, with three frontrunners for the first time in the country’s modern history.
The ballot casting exercise is over and now counting is underway.
Yesterday, frustrated Nigerians were casting their ballots into the evening, hours past the official deadline for joining the voting line, after late starts and sporadic violence caused delays at polling stations.
A total of 90 million people are eligible to vote out of the 200 million population in the most populated democratic nation in Africa.
Retired Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta is heading the African Union’s Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) to Nigeria.
The AU appointed to lead the recently launched AUEOM.
The observer mission met all the presidential candidates’ days before the voting exercise began.
For the first time since the end of military rule in 1999, a third serious candidate has emerged to challenge the dominance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Election officials blamed the delays on logistical issues, though other observers pointed to the upheaval created by a redesigned currency that has left many unable to obtain bank notes.
The cash shortage affected transport not only for voters but also election workers and police officers providing security.
Mahmood Yakubu, head of Nigeria’s election commission, said voting would continue late into the evening in places that had recorded violence but now have an adequate security presence.
“We are determined that no Nigerian should and would be disenfranchised,” he said.
With Buhari stepping down after two terms in office, the APC’s Bola Tinubu, 70, a former Lagos governor and political kingmaker, says “It’s my turn” for the presidency.
He faces a familiar rival — PDP candidate and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 76, who is on his sixth bid for the top job.
But the emergence of a surprise third candidate appealing to young voters, Labour Party’s Peter Obi, 61, has thrown the race open with his appeal for change from his old-guard rivals.
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 be able to cast their ballots.
“The election will hold and no one will be disenfranchised,” he said.
Yakubu said at a later briefing that voting would take place on today in several wards in Yenagoa that had experienced severe disruption on yesterday.