2015 Polls: Voting Extended In Rivers State

Election materials lie discarded at a polling station in the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt on April 11, 2015 after it was closed owing to irregularities ©Florian Plaucheur (AFP)

Voting in Nigeria's key regional elections extended into Sunday in restive Rivers state after irregularities at some polling stations, as the nation anxiously awaited results for governorship and local assembly polls.

GRAPHITTI NEWS reports the INEC's Resident Electoral Commissioner for Rivers, Gesila Khan, said that voting has been extended in nine wards where election materials were never delivered to polling stations. The results from Saturday's vote have been thrown out in other parts of the state after ballot papers were openly stolen, she added. As Khan did not specify how many areas were affected, it was not immediately possible to estimate the impact on the statewide result.

Rivers, a southern oil-producing hub, has emerged as flashpoint through Nigeria's historic 2015 election cycle, and security forces were deployed heavily around the capital Port Harcourt in anticipation of disputes over the results.

Saturday’s election was marred by violence, shooting and snatching of electoral materials. In such places, INEC cancelled the election.

At least three people were killed by gunmen; and unlike the March 28 presidential election, there was relatively low turnout of voters.

Both Rotimi Amaechi, governor of the state, and Nyesom Wike, governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have accused each other of fomenting trouble in different parts of the state.

Results in the places where the election held are still being expected, as voting extended till the late hours of Saturday night in many voting centres where materials arrived late.

A total of 29 governorship and deputy governorship positions from Nigeria's 36 states are up for grabs as well as seats in all of the states' legislatures, with results expected to trickle in on Sunday.

Governors are influential figures in Africa's most populous nation, with near-total control of their states and collective power at a national level to bolster or check the presidency.

The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is seeking to build on its current control of 14 states after its candidate Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential race two weeks ago, in the first democratic transfer of power in Nigeria's history.

President Goodluck Jonathan's ruling Peoples Democratic Party currently controls 21 states.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it was broadly satisfied with the polling process nationwide on Saturday, excluding Rivers, where local INEC officials conceded that malpractice had tainted the vote in some areas.

- Tense oil hub -

Tension in Rivers mounted in the run-up to the vote because of a personal rivalry between outgoing Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Jonathan after the former's defection to the APC in 2013.

The APC alleged widespread rigging after Jonathan won Rivers with more than 95 percent in national polls, insisting it would not allow a repeat in the state vote.

Amaechi's spokeswoman Ibim Semenitari on Sunday accused the PDP of orchestrating a massive ballot-stuffing campaign and called on INEC to "ensure that the people's voices are not silenced."

There was no immediate response from the PDP.