Elections in Nigeria: Voting continues in places due to delays and technical problems

Nigeria: in this Lekki polling station in Lagos, night has fallen but voters are already awaiting the result of the ballot, Saturday February 25, 2023. REUTERS - JAMES OATWAY

Text by: RFI Follow

4 mins

Nigeria voted yesterday, Saturday February 25, generally calm despite some incidents and delays.

Voters were called upon to choose their new president from among 18 candidates, as well as deputies and senators.

In places, voting continues this Sunday.

Advertisement

Read more

Nigeria voted yesterday Saturday, a logistical challenge for the West African giant with the largest electorate on the continent (93.4 million officially registered), and more than 170,000 polling stations to open across the country.

Voting, in many places like Lagos or Kano, was very late because the equipment had not arrived or was not working.

It is the first time that Nigeria has used a biometric facial recognition voting system, which was supposed to prevent fraud but had not been tested beforehand, explains Ikemesit Effiong, director of research at the consulting firm SBM. Intelligence in Lagos, at the microphone of Christina Okello.

“

Another issue raised was that the symbols and logos of all political parties were not included on some ballot papers, yet this is required by Nigerian electoral law. 

There are concerns that the votes cast on these ballots could be subject to legal challenge and possibly invalidated.

So there were a whole series of logistical and technical problems that marred what was overall a peaceful electoral exercise.

Despite a relatively serene climate, there was sporadic violence in Lagos – notably in the Surulere district, where ballot boxes were opened and ballots were thrown into the gutter.

Shots were fired in the air to disperse voters, reports our correspondent

.

Many delays also noted in some offices in Kano

In Kano, the second city of the country, the great metropolis of the North, logistical delays have also been noted, according to our special correspondent,

.

Everywhere we went, voting operations started late, sometimes very late.

Thus, in a polling station, at the Magwan school, when the ballot boxes arrived in front of us, it was after 3 p.m.

The agents of the electoral commission were copiously reprimanded by the voters, some of whom had been waiting since six o'clock in the morning and had no intention of leaving without having voted.

This is also one of the images of yesterday to remember for us in Kano.

If the turnout seemed lower than in 2015, in Kano – we will see if the figures confirm this – the inhabitants who came to vote were determined.

" 

 " said a voter who was first in line at Kwanar Diso. Gwalé, a popular and very densely populated district.

“ 

 ” another told us.

In the various polling stations, we saw the voters taking their patience, insisting on finding their names, insisting on understanding why such a party acronym was not legible, then insisting on seeing the ballot count.

It was, for Nigeria, the first presidential election since 2003 without the name of the Northerner Muhammadu Buhari, the outgoing president, appearing among the candidates.

Muhammadu Buhari whom Kano has always supported in the previous five elections. 

The counting and collection of results is another challenge... so much so that many worried voters remained on watch to monitor the work of the assessors last night.

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Nigeria