Reuters) – Election irregularities sparked pockets of violence across Nigeria on Saturday in a vote which should lead to the first fully democratic transition of power in Africa’s most populous nation.
Saturday’s election of state governors and legislators was a test of the strength of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and should give Nigerians an idea of what to expect from presidential polls in a week’s time.
Voting began hours late in most places and ballot papers failed to turn up at all in some locations in the north, southeast and southern oil-producing Niger Delta, sparking violent protests and boycotts by the opposition.
Youths protesting the absence of ballots in the southern Anambra and Delta states torched three offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Four people were killed in nearby Benin and Ondo when armed men stormed polling booths to steal ballot boxes, local media reported.
In southeastern Enugu, voting began in the mid-afternoon when polling stations were already due to close.
“Many of us have not voted and we have no chance of voting,” said Senate President Ken Nnamani, a PDP member from Enugu, on local television. “Any person being declared a winner as far as Enugu is concerned has no mandate of anybody. People believe that the result has already being predetermined.”
The opposition Action Congress said there was no voting at all in many parts of the Niger Delta. A coalition of opposition parties warned INEC not to announce results in northeastern Gombe state because of deficient voting.