All eyes on Nigeria as results start to trickle in [The Morning Call]

With polling stations closed in Nigeria and vote count well underway, we take a look at how Saturday’s presidential election turned out for one of the continent’s top leaders.

Dozens are reported to have died in election-related violence. On Sunday, the Election Network group said the outbreak of violence was “worrying” and the authorities had been warned about the risk.

Another civil society group said the death toll could be as high as 35.

The elections were marred also by delays in delivery of voting materials necessitating the opening of polling stations on Sunday to allow more Nigerians to vote.

So far the country’s independent National Electoral Commission has started collation of results and put out information on some from various states.

President Buhari is appearing to be in a tight early lead with confirmed results so far trickling in from some states while main opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar is trailing just behind and has won some states including that of Ondo and Delta state in the south.

Nigeria has six geo-political zones namely the South West, South South, South East, North West, North central and North East.

It is important to note that the two main candidates are from the Northern part of the country. Nigeria has an estimated total population of 180 million roughly split between a mostly Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.

Some observers have described Saturday’s election as the most competitive and bloodiest election the nation has witnessed since 1999.

The electoral commision INEC on Sunday warned against the peddling or dissemination of election results via social media.

Full and final declaration of results is expected on Tuesday or early Wednesday pending no change or halt in the collation process.