Port Harcourt: Voting in Nigeria`s regional elections extended into Sunday in the restive Rivers state after irregularities at some polling stations, as the nation anxiously awaited the results.
Rivers, a southern oil-producing hub, has emerged as flashpoint through Nigeria`s historic 2015 election cycle, and security forces were deployed heavily around the capital Port Harcourt in anticipation of disputes over the results.
The collation of results was under way in the battleground of Lagos, Nigeria`s economic capital, where President Goodluck Jonathan`s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was hoping to take power for the first time since the end of military rule in 1999.
But despite an aggressive campaign from the PDP`s Jimi Agbaje, Lagosians may stick with the All Progressives Congress (APC) and vote in Akinwunmi Ambode, who is hoping to succeed outgoing governor Babatunde Fashola.
Partial and unofficial results reported by several local media outlets indicated the outcome in Lagos and surrounding state of the same name was too close to call.
A total of 29 governorship and deputy governorship positions from Nigeria`s 36 states are up for grabs as well as seats in all of the states` legislatures, with results expected to trickle in on Sunday.
Governors are influential figures in Africa`s most populous nation, with near-total control of their states and collective power at a national level to bolster or check the presidency.
The APC is seeking to build on its current control of 14 states after its candidate Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential race two weeks ago, in the first democratic transfer of power in Nigeria`s history.
The PDP currently controls 21 states.The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said nationwide polling on Saturday was marred by 66 incidents of violence, without giving further details or any casualty figures.
Rivers was the worst affected, with 16 separate outbreaks of unrest, an INEC statement said.
Tension in Rivers mounted in the run-up to the vote because of a personal rivalry between outgoing governor Rotimi Amaechi and Jonathan after the former`s defection to the APC in 2013.
INEC`s top official in Rivers, Gesila Khan, said voting has been extended in nine wards where election materials were never delivered to polling stations.
The results in other parts of the state have been thrown out after ballot papers were openly stolen, she added.
Khan did not specify how many areas were affected, however, so it was not immediately possible to estimate the impact on the statewide result.
The APC alleged widespread rigging after Jonathan won Rivers with more than 95 percent in the national polls two weeks ago, insisting it would not allow a repeat in the state vote.
Amaechi`s spokeswoman Ibim Semenitari on Sunday accused the PDP of orchestrating a massive ballot-stuffing campaign and called on the INEC to "ensure that the people`s voices are not silenced".
There was no immediate response from the PDP. Despite the reported violence, INEC described Saturday`s vote as "relatively peaceful".
Electronic voter identification devices -- which were used for the first time in last month`s general election and caused headaches in several states -- broadly worked in the regional vote despite problems in some areas, INEC said.
Experts believe the opposition could add to its tally of governors with the central state of Plateau as well as Kaduna in the north.
Taraba in the east is in the spotlight because it could return a female governor for the first time in Nigeria`s history in the shape of Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan.
Jonathan made history by conceding the presidential election before the final results were announced, winning plaudits for his statesmanship and for defusing the threat of violence.
Information Minister Patricia Akwashiki on Saturday urged candidates in the local polls to follow his example, with violence having hit previous elections in Nigeria.
"If our president was able to walk away from an election and accept defeat, everybody, the winner and the loser, should be able to accept that the people`s will is what will carry the day," local media quoted her as saying.
