Nigeria in tense vote count after second day of polling

Agence France-Presse

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Nigeria in tense vote count after second day of polling

EPA

Despite violence linked to Boko Haram militants and sporadic unrest elsewhere, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and others praise the conduct of the vote

ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria counted ballots in a closely fought general election Sunday, March 29, after failures in controversial new technology pushed voting into a second day, with President Goodluck Jonathan facing a stiff challenge from ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.

Despite violence linked to Boko Haram militants and sporadic unrest elsewhere, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and others praised the conduct of the vote and called for calm to avoid a repeat of deadly rioting that followed 2011 elections.

In a sign of the continuing threat posed by the Islamists however, military fighter jets and ground troops pounded Boko Haram fighters in the northeastern state of Bauchi after a series of attacks on polling stations at the weekend.

The presidential election in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer is the closest in the country’s history, with the first credible challenge from an opposition party.

Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been in power since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 but is being pushed to the wire by main opposition candidate Buhari.

First results could be given from Monday, March 30, the head of the country’s electoral commission, Attahiru Jega, said Sunday night.

The prospect of a democratic transfer of power – plus economic woes caused by the slump in global oil prices, concerns about corruption and fears about insecurity – served to energize the vote.

One government spokesman claimed there was a “record turnout” and voting was largely peaceful despite pockets of unrest mainly in southern states such as the key battleground of Rivers.

The technical difficulties of the voting process, however, set the tone for a potential dispute as the PDP has opposed the use of handheld electronic devices to authenticate voters, saying they were not sufficiently tested.

Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) supports the new system as a means of curbing the voter fraud that has marred previous elections.

‘No shenanigans’

Jega told a news conference on Sunday the electoral commission was confident its objective of holding a “free, fair, credible and peaceful” election was “on course”.

“We appeal to all Nigerians to remain peaceful as they await the return of these results,” he added, with fears of a repeat of 2011 post-poll violence that left some 1,000 people dead.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Nigerians for holding “largely peaceful and orderly” elections and urged calm throughout the rest of the process.

Wrangling over the results already began as the counting got under way, some of it by flashlight with Nigeria regularly plunged into darkness by daily power cuts.

In oil-rich Rivers state, thousands of opposition supporters demonstrated to call for the cancellation of the elections locally because of alleged irregularities.

The ruling PDP earlier described the failure of the technology to read biometric data such as fingerprints – including on the president’s own voter identity card – as a “national embarrassment”.

The technical glitches along with the late and even non-arrival of election officials and materials in some areas led Jega to concede there were “challenges”.

But the electoral chief stressed that only a small percentage of the card readers experienced problems.

“We have deployed 150,000 card readers and 0.25% statistically is insignificant,” he said.

The devices were used again on Sunday but voters could also be processed manually if further glitches occurred.

Jega said that around 350 polling stations across the country were affected by glitches and delayed materials, including 90 in the financial hub of Lagos in the southwest and two in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

An electoral officer in the Kosofe local government area in Lagos told Agence France-Presse: “We had challenges yesterday with the card readers but it is working fine now.”

Wheelchair user Emily Adeyemi, 69, was accredited before others at her polling station.

“I was disappointed when I could not vote yesterday. But I am happy that I have been accredited to vote today,” she said in the Yoruba language widely spoken in the southwest.

All ballots were expected to be cast by Sunday night, with nearly 69 million people registered to vote. 

To avoid a run-off, presidential candidates need to have won the most votes and at least 25% support in 2/3 of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

Bauchi fighting

Boko Haram has dominated the campaign, with military operations against the Islamists forcing a 6-week delay to the scheduled February 14 election.

On Sunday, residents and a military source said soldiers supported by two fighter jets intercepted the militants at Dungulbe village, 7 km (4 miles) from Bauchi city in the northeast.

A spokesman for the Bauchi state governor said an indefinite, round-the-clock curfew had been imposed on three areas because of the fighting.

The militants were believed to have come through the town of Alkaleri, 60 km away, where there was a dawn raid on Saturday, March 28.

Bauchi police spokesman Haruna Mohammed confirmed that polling stations in nearby Kirfi were attacked on Sunday and election materials were destroyed.

A series of suspected attacks on polling stations in neighboring Gombe state on Saturday killed at least seven.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had vowed to disrupt the election, calling it “un-Islamic”. – Ola Awoniyi, AFP / Rappler.com

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