Nigeria stepped up security on Thursday in the southeastern state of Imo ahead of a mop-up gubernatorial election in a handful of districts after irregularities marred the initial vote.
Soldiers set up checkpoints along the main roads in the state capital as police commissioner Yabo Mohammed said security agencies were “fully prepared” to prevent any fraud or outbreak of violence linked to the vote on Friday.
Cases of ballot box snatching, fake balloting materials and inadequate ballot papers were among the problems that forced a fresh vote in four districts, as well as one ward in a fifth district. The state has 27 districts.
The ruling Peoples Democratic Party currently controls Imo state, but an opposition candidate from the All Progressives Grand Alliance may be in a position to win, partial results showed before irregularities forced the April 26 vote to be declared inconclusive.
The opposition has gone to court seeking to stop the mop-up election, alleging officials deployed to run the vote are sympathetic to the ruling party.
On Thursday, soldiers set up roadblocks along the main roads of the capital, stopping and searching motorists, while a curfew has been imposed for Thursday night. Movements will be restricted on Friday.
The electoral commission said it has deployed more officials than normal to oversee the election. Election officers who conducted the last vote have been replaced.
“All these are measures to ensure there is not the slightest possibility of compromise,” said electoral commission spokesman Kadoye Idowu.
Nigeria held gubernatorial ballots in most of its 36 states last week as it stumbled to the end of a landmark election period that had earlier led to deadly riots in the north over the April 16 presidential vote.
A local rights group said 500 people died in the riots. Governorship elections were also marred by bombs, shootings and theft of ballots.
Despite the violence, Nigeria’s parliamentary, presidential and governorship votes were judged both at home and abroad as a major step forward for Africa’s most populous country after a series of deeply flawed elections.
A group of local election observers, The Situation Room, said the electoral agency should ensure the Imo vote is “manifestly free, fair, credible, transparent and devoid of the violations that crippled” the last balloting.
Imo state is listed as one of the country’s nine oil-producing states, but it is better known as one of its top palm oil producers.
May62011