Nigerians began voting on Saturday for a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari in a tightly fought race with three frontrunners competing for the primary time within the nation’s fashionable historical past, with many hoping the subsequent chief will steer Africa’s most populous nation and largest economic system on a brand new course after years of worsening violence and hardship.
Polling stations had been scheduled to open at 8:30 a.m. (0730 GMT), although Reuters reporters at a number of places throughout the nation noticed some that weren’t prepared. In northern Kano State, southern Bayelsa State and the federal capital Abuja, reporters noticed queues of voters with no election officers in sight.
Reporters at one location in central Lagos, one other within the metropolis of Awka, in southeastern Anambra State, and one within the northeastern metropolis of Maiduguri noticed voting start, although at different Lagos places there have been delays.
Buhari, a retired military normal, is stepping down after serving the utmost eight years allowed by the structure however failing to ship on his pledge to deliver again order and safety throughout Nigeria, Africa’s prime oil-producing nation.
The important candidates in probably the most huge open contest for the reason that finish of military rule in 1999 are two political veterans from the 2 important events and a candidate from a minor celebration who opinion polls counsel has an opportunity due to help from younger voters.
More than 93 million individuals are registered to vote for the subsequent president and members of the National Assembly. Some 176,600 polling stations had been scheduled to be open between 8:30 a.m. and a couple of:30 p.m. (0730 GMT to 1330 GMT).
Vote-counting will start as quickly as polls shut and outcomes shall be posted outdoors polling stations. The remaining tally from the 36 states and federal capital Abuja is predicted inside 5 days of voting.
“I hope that whoever becomes president will alleviate the suffering of the masses. We are in (a) difficult time, transportation costs and food prices have tripled,” stated Umar Abdullahi, a tea vendor ready to vote within the metropolis of Kano.
The run-up to the vote was marred by violence, a sample seen in earlier Nigerian elections, with the killing of a senatorial candidate within the risky southeast area on Wednesday the most recent in a sequence of significant incidents.
The election comes as Nigerians are struggling to deal with a scarcity of money attributable to a botched plan to swap previous financial institution notes for brand new ones that has wreaked havoc on folks’s each day lives and led to scenes of violence at banks and money machines.
The new president may also should grapple with issues starting from excessive inflation, deep poverty and vitality shortages, to an Islamist insurgency within the northeast, industrial-scale oil theft within the south and rampant crime in all places.
For the election, land borders had been closed, troopers had been patrolling the streets in a number of states and actions had been restricted in an effort by the authorities to spice up safety.
The important contenders within the race to succeed Buhari are former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress, former vice chairman Atiku Abubakar, 76, of the principle opposition Peoples Democratic Party, and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, 61, of the smaller Labour Party.
Tinubu and Atiku, as he’s recognized in Nigeria, are each political heavyweights with a long time of networking behind them and bulging marketing campaign coffers. Both 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 much less of a political machine behind him however has used a slick social media marketing campaign to generate large enthusiasm amongst younger voters, with some even calling themselves the “Obidients.”
Nigeria has an extended historical past of electoral fraud and violence, although its polls have been getting progressively cleaner in latest cycles.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has launched new know-how and procedures to make sure this election is free and truthful, reminiscent of a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that can determine voters utilizing biometric information.
INEC says cell phones will not be permitted in voting cubicles as a result of previously folks have used them to take pictures of their ticked poll papers to point out to candidates who’ve supplied to pay for his or her votes.
“The election will be free and fair. We didn’t have that before. They have computer, they have finger print, they have picturing. You can’t cheat now,” stated Mohammed Aisha, a grocery store proprietor ready to vote in Lagos.
Despite such precautions, analysts have warned there have been nonetheless dangers from the dearth of money, which might make hard-pressed residents weak to vote-buying by candidates, and a scarcity of gas that might make it onerous for INEC to deploy workers and gear to all areas.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
