Bombay Durpun - Nigeria counts votes after tight election hit by long delays

Nearly 90 million people were eligible to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari's successor, with many Nigerians hoping their new leader would tackle a widening security crisis, the sluggish economy and growing poverty.

For the first time since the end of military rule in 1999, a third serious candidate has emerged to challenge the dominance of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The three-way race sees former Lagos governor and APC candidate Bola Tinubu facing PDP's Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, and surprise third party candidate, Labour's Peter Obi, a one-time Anambra State governor.

In Lagos and other cities, eager crowds gathered to watch counting in polling centres, where ballots were tallied by hand before they were sent on electronically.

"One! Two! Three!" people counted out loud together as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presiding officer held up the ballot papers to crowds at one polling station in southern Port Harcourt.

"I want to make sure it’s transparent and that the election is free and fair,” said Juliette Ogbonda, a 30-year-old hotel receptionist, watching the counting.

Nigeria's past elections have often been tainted by fraud and vote-rigging claims. PDP's candidate Abubakar claimed fraud when he was beaten by Buhari in the 2019 vote before the Supreme Court dismissed his lawsuit.

"Polling units in a large number of areas have closed and we started the counting of ballot papers," INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu said.

Voting was meant to end at 1330 GMT, but by nightfall, angry voters were still waiting to cast ballots after INEC started late or problems with identification technology disrupted them in parts of Lagos, southern Port Harcourt and the northwest state of Kano.

INEC said people still in lines after could cast their ballots.

In southeast Anambra State, officials counted votes at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, where crowds of voters danced.

But desperation was clear in another nearby centre.

"It is not normal. I will wait all night, I came to vote and I will," said student Blessing Mbanefo, 21, waiting to vote. "I'm ready to sleep here."

INEC has not said when official results will be announced though it is expected over the next few days as tallies are uploaded on an online portal.

- Three rivals -

The success of Nigeria's vote will be closely watched in West Africa where coups in Mali and Burkina Faso and growing Islamist militancy have taken the region's democracy back a step.

Whoever wins Nigeria's presidency must manage Africa's largest economy beset by a host of complex problems, from a grinding jihadist war and bandit militias and separatists to high inflation and widening poverty.

But Saturday's vote went ahead mostly peacefully.

Several Lagos polling booths were ransacked, according to INEC, and voting at 141 polling units in southern Bayelsa State would take place on Sunday after the ballot was disrupted.

Voters will also cast their ballot for Nigeria's two houses of parliament, the National Assembly and Senate.

Buhari, a former army commander, steps down after two terms in office, with critics saying he failed in his promises to make Nigeria safer.

APC's candidate Tinubu, 70, a long-time political kingmaker, says "It's my turn" for the presidency. He can count on APC's structure and his political network.

He faces a familiar rival -- PDP candidate Abubakar, 76, who is on his sixth bid for the top job and touts his business experience.

But both are old guard figures who have fought off past corruption accusations.

The emergence of a surprise third candidate appealing to young voters, Labour Party's Obi, 61, has thrown the race open with his campaign as the candidate of change.

- Cash shortages -

Fuel and cash shortages caused by a bank note exchange in the run-up to the election also left many Nigerians struggling more than usual in a country already hit by more than 20-percent inflation.

To win the presidency, a candidate must get the most votes, but also win 25 percent in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states.

If no candidate wins, a runoff will take place within 21 days between two frontrunners -- an unprecedented outcome that some analysts say is a possibility this time around.

Voting also often falls along ethnic and religious lines: Tinubu is a southern Yoruba Muslim, Abubakar is an ethnic Fulani Muslim from the northeast and Obi is a Christian Igbo from the southeast.

P.Raval--BD