ZCZC
BFF-18
NIGERIA-VOTE
Nigerians return to vote in governor, state elections
LAGOS, March 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Nigerians returned to vote in governorship and state
elections on Saturday after polling a fortnight ago was declared invalid in some areas
because of violence.
The decision by Nigeria’s electoral board to void March 9 elections in six states came
two weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari won a second term in a poll denounced by
his main rival as fraudulent.
The INEC, the National Electoral Commission, said violence and other irregularities
had prompted voting to be cancelled in some areas of Kano and Sokoto, in the
northwest, Bauchi and Adamawa in the northwest, and the central states of Benue and
Plateau.
Another poll, in Rivers state, had been suspended.
Around half a million registered voters were eligible to cast their ballot Saturday.
Results are expected from early next week.
The governorship races in the six states are closely fought between the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
State parliamentary elections were also taking place across the country.
Tempers have been frayed since Buhari’s re-election, with the defeated PDP candidate
Atiku Abubakar challenging the result in an election tribunal and claiming that
results in several states were manipulated.
Election observers meanwhile criticised the organisation and running of the
governorship and state elections, as well as presidential and parliamentary polls on
February 23, citing reports of vote buying and intimidation.
Situation Room, an umbrella group of more than 70 civil society organisations
monitoring the vote, has called for an independent inquiry into the entire election
process.
The PDP denounced INEC’s decision to halt voting in affected states, claiming it was
“clearly leading the (governorship) race,” accusing INEC of collusion with the ruling
party.
INEC was “seeking ways to use the situation to aid the APC to alter the results and
announce APC candidates as winners”, it said in a statement Monday.
Buhari’s APC won 13 states in the governorship elections, with the PDP winning 9.
Regional elections are fiercely contested in Nigeria, where governors are powerful
and influential figures, controlling state finances and responsible for key areas from
education to health.
Buhari will hope to consolidate his re-election victory whilst the opposition PDP
seeks to claw back power at the state level.
BSS/AFP/AU/15:10 hrs