Nigeria elections: Local polls open to elect governors

Nigerians are voting on Saturday to elect governors and state assembly members, amid reports of heavy military deployment and attacks against electoral facilities in a few areas.

Saturday’s election comes two weeks after Muhammadu Buhari secured a second term in a delayed presidential vote, and is expected to be more contentious in some areas.

The country’s two top political parties vie for control of powerful states that in certain cases have larger budgets than some African nations.

Heavy military deployment is reported in Rivers state in Nigeria’s restive south.

Local officials confirm to The Associated Press news agency the burning of electoral facilities in Benue and Ebonyi states. Observers note scattered reports of thuggery or suspected underage voters.

And Nigeria’s top anti-corruption agency says it has intercepted “bags of cash meant for vote-buying”.

Elections for governors are being held in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, for all state assemblies, along with the administrative councils in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

Polling stations opened at 07:00 GMT and close at 13:00 GMT, with results expected early next week.

The queus outside polling centres in the capital Abuja were shorter compared to two weeks ago when voters cast their ballot in the presidential poll.

“People are not coming out to vote because they are disappointed with the outcome of the presidential election and that has affected the turnout of today’s election,” Obinna Okeke, a businessman, told Al Jazeera.

Many of the voters said they found the voting process easier compared to previous elections.

“It was easy to vote today. The place is scanty and people are not many today as compared to the previous elections. The card reader worked smoothly when I was getting accredited.” Edidiong Bassey, a 35-year-old civil servant, told Al Jazeera.

Governors are among the most influential politicians in Nigeria, which is Africa’s biggest oil producer and has the continent’s largest economy.

With so much at stake, many previous governorship elections have been marred by violence, including shootings and armed gangs snatching ballot boxes.

Buhari, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), beat Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in last month’s presidential election with 15.2 million votes to 11.3 million, though on a turnout of just 35.6 percent.

The president is expected to consolidate his February 23 victory, in which he won 19 states to secure a second and final four-year term of office.

His APC party currently controls 22 states while the main opposition PDP has 13, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has one.

State-level elections are often predicted to broadly mirror presidential polling and this year comes amid concerns about the role of security forces during the vote.

During the presidential and parliamentary polling, there were reports of violence, vote-buying, voter intimidation and ballot box vandalism in some states.

At least 53 people were killed, according to the Situation Room umbrella group of more than 70 civil society monitoring groups, which said safety fears contributed to a low turnout.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies