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, south-east 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 south-eastern 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 north-eastern Gombe state because of deficient voting.
”There are massive irregularities and fraud. Soldiers and police have been used to intimidate voters, cart away ballot boxes and rig in favour of the PDP,” said Action Congress spokesperson Lai Mohammed.
Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous army rule, and this vote should bring the first handover from one elected president to another since independence from Britain in 1960.
Dozens of people have been killed in political violence in the months leading up to the poll. Dozens of mostly opposition candidates have been disqualified over controversial indictments for fraud.
Poor preparation of the voter register and lack of accreditation for observers have also raised doubts about the credibility of the exercise.
”If Nigeria works well, so might Africa. If the democratic experiment in Nigeria stalls, the rest of Africa suffers and loses hope,” said Robert Rotberg of the United States Council on Foreign Relations in a special report.
Nigerian governors control big budgets and have enormous powers in their states, making the gubernatorial polls as important to many Nigerians as the April 21 presidential vote.
The PDP now controls 28 of the 36 states, with the rest split between a handful of opposition parties.
With unrivalled funds and powers of incumbency, the PDP should coast to victory, analysts say. But endemic corruption, failure to deliver basic services and deteriorating security have boosted the chances of the opposition in many states. – Reuters