Nigeria elections: Blasts rock Maiduguri hours before polls open

Abuja, Nigeria – Explosions have rocked Maiduguri, the capital of northeast Borno state, two hours before polls were to open in presidential and legislative elections after a week-long delay.

The explosions, which occurred at 05:00 GMT on Saturday, sent residents of Maiduguri scampering for safety, witnesses told Al Jazeera.

“Shortly after prayers, we heard seven blasts. Nobody knows what is going on. This is really unfortunate because it will make some people not go out today to vote,” Jubril Abdulrahman said. “We are all in our homes and waiting to find out what exactly is going on,” Abdulrahman said.

About 120,000 polling stations opened at 07:00 GMT across Africa’s most populous nation and leading oil producer for four years. Results are expected from early next week.

Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from a polling station in Maiduguri, said armed group Boko Haram had vowed to disrupt the elections.

“This is what foreign embassies in Nigeria warned their citizens about long before this election. This morning we woke up to the sound of explosions here in Maiduguri, some are talking about at least a dozen explosions.

“The fighting, or the explosions we have heard so far, has not deterred some of the voters who are eager to cast their ballots in the election,” Idris added.

“Since the break of dawn, people were on the road, trying to access polling stations, trying to exercise their rights as citizens of this country. But of course the delay has discouraged at least some people who had to travel long distances.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last Saturday announced a one-week delay to the election, just hours before it was due to get under way.

That angered voters who had already travelled to their home towns and villages to participate, and saw the main parties accuse the other of conspiring with INEC to rig the result.

While the INEC has promised safety for voters in Saturday’s polls, many in the restive north have said they would not venture out of their homes to vote.

“I will remain indoor with my children. I don’t think I will go out to vote because anything can happen,” Hadiza Idris, another Maiduguri resident, told Al Jazeera.

Suspected members of Boko Haram on Saturday have also attacked Geidam city in neighboring Yobe state, where residents were forced to flee their homes and hide in the bush.

The attacks in the northeast come on the back of an ambush against a convoy of Borno state governor Kashim Shetima, on his way to a campaign rally in Gamboru Ngala.

The attack left scores dead and several people abducted by suspected Boko Haram fighters.

Northeast Nigeria has been hit by the decade-long Boko Haram campaign with attacks in recent months carried out by the offshoot Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in West Africa Province. More than 20,000 people have been killed by the group.

In a crowded field of 73 presidential hopefuls, the two frontrunners – incumbent Muhammadu Buhari, 76, and former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 72 – are expected to vote in their home towns.

Electors are also choosing 360 members of the House of Representatives and 109 senators from a choice of 6,500 candidates.