At least two people
were killed in a suspected Boko Haram attack on polling stations in northeast
Nigeria on Saturday, residents and an election official told AFP.
The attacks happened
in the villages of Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani in the Nafada district of
Gombe state, which has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamists.
An
election official, who requested anonymity, said: "We could hear the
gunmen shouting, 'Didn't we warn you about staying away from (the)
election?'"
Boko Haram appeared
to carry through their pledge to try to disrupt the vote, attacking two polling
stations in the northeastern state of Gombe, leaving at least two voters dead.
One election official
said after the shootings in Birin Bolawa and Birin Fulani: "We could hear
the gunmen shouting, 'Didn't we warn you about staying away from (the)
election?'"
Polling stations had
earlier opened at 0700 GMT across the country but the late arrival of officials
and materials delayed the accreditation process before voting proper from 1230
GMT.
Handheld technology
to read biometric voter identity cards is being used for the first time, which
the country's electoral commission hopes will cut voter fraud that has blighted
previous elections.
Fourteen candidates
are contesting the presidential poll, while 2,537 hopefuls from 28 parties are
vying for 469 seats in the National Assembly at the same time.
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Internally Displaced
People who fled areas affected by Boko Haram violence, queue at a polling
station in Maiduguri on March 28, 2015
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The incumbent 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.
"I cannot recall
an election more important than this in the history of our nation," he
said on Thursday.
There was clear
evidence of traditional support along regional lines, with Buhari hailing from the
mainly Muslim north and Jonathan a son of the largely Christian south.
But political
analysts say such backing is far from guaranteed at the election, of which UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the international community had "high
expectations".
Voters were however
annoyed at delays in authenticating fingerprints and other data, which the
electoral commission said should take only 10 seconds under the new system.
"I was in the
queue for almost two hours, and when it was my turn the officials spent close
to 20 minutes before they could be through with me," said Isu Sylvanus, a
38-year-old farmer, in Otuoke.
"They should
discard with the card reader for this election because we are yet to master how
to use it."
- Tight security -
Security was tight nationwide,
with fears running high of Boko Haram attacks on polling stations and a repeat
of poll-related violence that saw some 1,000 people killed in 2011.
Streets were largely
devoid of traffic as an eight-hour ban on vehicle movements began. Shops and businesses
were shuttered while military helicopters were seen overhead in Abuja.
In the southeastern
city of Enugu, a vehicle loaded with suspected homemade bombs exploded outside
a polling station at a primary school but no one was killed or injured, police
said.
The attack in Gombe,
which has been repeatedly targeted by the militants, also saw election
materials burned.
In the northeast,
blighted by six years of Boko Haram violence that has left more than 13,000
people dead and 1.5 million homeless, voting was taking place in and around
camps for the displaced.
Civilian vigilantes
swept voters in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, with hand-held metal
detectors as a precaution after a string of suicide attacks on "soft"
targets in recent weeks.
Many of the thousands
of voters were women widowed by the violence or separated from their husbands.
"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. 
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