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PDP presidential
candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan voting during the Presidential and National
Assembly elections at ward 13, unit 39, Otabla Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government
Area of Bayelsa on Saturday (Image source: The Nation)
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Based on aggregated field
reports, GRAPHITTI NEWS presents the following highlights on the Presidential
and National Assembly poll this Saturday:
- I hope to win, says Jonathan after voting -
President Goodluck
Jonathan has said he was hopeful of winning the presidential election.
He spoke in Otuoke after
casting his vote. His wife Dame Patience Jonathan voted moments after he did.
The president said he
voted for himself and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates for the
National Assembly.
They voted in Unit 39,
Ward 13 in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Ask whether he would win,
Jonathan said: “I am very hopeful. Very, very hopeful.”
President Jonathan
expressed confidence that the elections would be free and fair despite the
hitches.
He dismissed rumours of
violence and bomb explosion in Enugu.
He said: “You can see
that it’s peaceful everywhere. I believe and I’m convinced that the elections
will be free and fair and extreme credible.”
- 'Huge national embarrassment' -
Problems with new
technology on Saturday forced a 24-hour extension to the presidential election
in Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria, and renewed Boko Haram violence hit
the knife-edge vote.
The Islamist militants
were suspected of killing at least seven people in separate attacks in
northeastern Gombe state, including at polling stations, while on Friday, 23
people were beheaded in Borno state.
President Goodluck Jonathan
was the most high-profile victim of the glitches with handheld readers, which
scan biometric identity cards to authenticate voters to help cut electoral
fraud.
His main opponent, former
military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, had no such problems and was accredited
without a hitch in his hometown of Daura, in northern Katsina state.
Jonathan, who is seeking
a second term of office, was forced to abandon his attempt to register
electronically for the ballot in his home town of Otuoke, Bayelsa state, after the
card reader repeatedly failed.
The 57-year-old was then
accredited by hand and was able to cast his vote. He said afterwards: "As
head of state, I don't blame anybody... I think the problem is national."
The Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) accepted there had been "challenges" with
the technology in "many" places that had forced polling officials to
suspend the process.
There was no immediate
figure on how many people were affected, with voters also reporting the late
and even non-arrival of election officials in some places.
People in the affected
areas will go back to the polls on Sunday to be processed manually after
polling units where voting was possible began shutting from early evening on
Saturday.
During the election
campaign, Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) repeatedly criticised the
technology, which is designed to "read" fingerprints and other
personal data in 10 seconds.
Buhari's main opposition
All Progressives Congress (APC) backed the use of the devices as a way of combating
widespread vote-rigging in previous elections.
PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh
described the technological failure as "a huge national
embarrassment" and a "vindication" of the party's position that
it should not have been used without proper testing.
Three PDP governors were
among those who also encountered difficulties, he added, calling for a
"thorough explanation" from INEC.
- Polls attacked -
Boko Haram has dominated
the election campaign, with the Islamist militant group's leader Abubakar
Shekau having threatened to disrupt the vote.
A recent spate of suicide
bombings and attacks on "soft" targets such as markets and bus
stations raised fears about the safety of voters and led to stringent security
measures countrywide.
The rebels, who have
recently been pushed out of captured territory in the restive northeast by a
four-nation military coalition, appeared to hold good to that pledge by
attacking Gombe state.
At least seven people
were killed when suspected Boko Haram gunmen launched separate attacks in the
neighbouring villages of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani, the town of Dukku and
nearby Tilen village.
The first three attacks
saw shots fired at voters at polling stations and election materials were
burned.
An election official, who
requested anonymity, said: "We could hear the gunmen shouting, 'Didn't we
warn you about staying away from (the) election?'"
The beheadings happened
in Buratai on the eve of voting, according to a nurse in Biu and lawmaker
Mohammed Adamu, who represents the town some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from
the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.
It was unclear whether
the massacre was poll-related.
Voters turned out in
force in Maiduguri, which has been repeatedly hit in the insurgency that has
left more than 13,000 dead and some 1.5 million homeless.
Civilian vigilantes swept
voters, many of them women widowed by the violence or separated from their
husbands, with hand-held metal detectors.
"I am ready to cast
my vote at whatever cost," said Tandalami Balami, who fled the recently liberated
town of Gwoza to a camp in Maiduguri.
- Tight race -
Jonathan, Buhari and 12
other candidates are contesting the presidential poll, while 2,537 hopefuls
from 28 parties are vying for 469 seats in parliament.
The president's ruling
party has been in power since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 but the
result is far from clear this time, with the opposition in its strongest
position ever.
The president's inability
to tackle Boko Haram -- until recently -- has dominated his tenure and while Nigeria
became Africa's largest economy on his watch, global oil shocks have hit the
country hard.
Even Jonathan has
admitted that the election is close, with 72-year-old Buhari seen by some as an
antidote to endemic government corruption and insecurity.
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Main opposition All
Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Mohammadu Buhari holds his
ballot paper prior to casting his vote at a polling station in Daura, Nigeria,
on March 28, 2015 ©Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP)
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- Hiccups should not undermine poll outcome – Buhari -
The presidential
candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and his
wife, Aisha Buhari voted at their Sarkin Yara A, Kofa Barau 3 polling unit in
Liman ward of Daura local government area of Katsina State at about 5.00pm on
Saturday, saying the problems in few places should not be allowed to undermine
the integrity of the election.
The APC standard bearer,
who was adorned in a white babanriga and a stipend cap and black shoes to
match, arrived the polling unit at exactly 4:48pm to a rousing reception and
shout of Sai Baba by the electorates who were practically falling over each
other to catch a glimpse of him.
Both foreign and local
journalists who converged in Daura struggled to get pictures of the former
Nigerian leader and his wife as he cast his vote.
Accreditation of eligible
voters which started at about 8:30am was concluded at about 4:22pm due to the
large turnout of voters which dragged the process beyond the stipulated 1:00pm.
Voting process was
generally peaceful across Daura with a large turnout of eligible voters noticed
in all the polling units visited, with a few incidences of the card reader
failing to work.
Speaking to reporters at
his Daura residence after casting his votes, Buhari said he based his
assessment of the election on the performance of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, saying “If I could recall, I even referred to the
submission by the INEC chairman of their activities from the end of the last
general election in 2011 till how. I said the document was very good and even
INEC said they were ready to conduct this election.
“So, whether I said that
INEC is performing or not performing is based on the current issues. We see
them documented on record. I just can’t work on rumour because if you work on
rumours in Nigeria, you get missing in action.
“The reception I received
in my constituency has always been like that since April 2002. So, for you, it
may be so spectacular, but it has always been a regular thing.”
Speaking on the problems
in Rivers State, Buhari said “I spoke with the governor of Rivers State and I
think that what has been happening in Rivers State is a continuation of the
hostility between the ruling party and the APC. It is so real and the governor
has been fighting and today, it got out of hand.
Buhari, who had earlier
expressed confidence in the use of the card readers, said, “I like the
integrity of the system. I am very pleased about it. That means that if people
are allowed to vote, rigging will be virtually impossible. I think that INEC
has done very well and I have said it to your colleagues elsewhere that from
their presentations to the National Council of States which I happened to be a
member, this time around, INEC has done extremely well.”
He, however, admitted
that the equipment failed to work in some areas, but expressed satisfaction
with the decision of INEC to allow election to hold on Sunday in places where
elections could not take place on Saturday.
“I must admit that again,
I am happy with the decision take by INEC that in places where election has not
taken place, it will take place tomorrow. From the information we are getting
which has not been confirmed, there is failure of some of the card readers.
“For example, it took me
less than five minutes for accreditation. When I came back home, I was watching
on television and it took the President about 30 minutes to be accredited. But
it took his wife and mother about two minutes each to do it. There is discrepancy
in the performance of those gadgets. For INEC to give the notice that because
of failure in some of the equipment, elections will continue tomorrow where
elections did not happen today.”
On whether he will accept
the outcome of the election if the results did not go his own way, he said “My
way is Nigeria way, I believe. Even before the first Abuja peace accord, have
told my supporters not to be rude or take up weapon against any Nigerian.
“After that, we signed
the first Abuja accord presided over by Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of
the United Nations which we all signed as presidential candidates and the
recent one signed three days ago between me and Jonathan presided over by Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar, Bishop Kukah and Bishop Onaiyekan and two others.
“We gave assurance that
we will make sure that our supporters do not become violent during and after
the elections. In constituency where there are violence, it is up to the
parties to make sure they set up a process of disciplining those involved. We
can’t sign an agreement as leaders of our parties and presidential candidates
and somebody down there will be doing the opposite of what we pledged and
signed. That is indiscipline.”
The former head of state
who expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election, however said that
the hiccups in some places should not undermine the conduct of the election.
The tight race has
prompted fears of a repeat of poll-related violence that saw some 1,000 people
killed in 2011. There were sporadic reports of clashes on Saturday.
The technical stumbles
could not have come at a worse time for Nigeria, after it delayed the scheduled
February 14 vote by six weeks on security grounds.
INEC has said that
results would be announced within 48 hours of polls closing.
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