Displaced Nigerians hope new leaders will provide help

When casting their ballot for the general elections Saturday (Feb. 25), Nigerians considered key issues such as: the high cost of living, corruption and insecurity.

Internally displaced people voting at the Malkohi camp in Yola, north-eastern Nigeria, looked forward to a positive transformation of the country.

Grave security problems plague the nation (violent jihadist insurgency in the north-east, separatist tensions in the south, rising crime in the north-west and center).

"The one thing we want the new leader to do for us the IDPs is for him to bring us back home so that we can live like normal human beings in our own home. That is all we want,» Idris Abdullahi, farmer a who was displaced from Gwoza said.

A fellow countrymAN Umaru Abubakar doubled down.

"When the new Government takes office, we hope that they will help us, the IDPS, since we also came out to vote. We hope that we will be treated equally because we too are like citizens of this land now."

Counting was underway in some polling units Saturday afternoon, as voting officially closed at 1:30 pm GMT.