Vote counting is underway in Nigeria’s presidential election as it spilled into a second day following violence and electronic glitches making it the most tense election since the country left behind military rule in 1999.
Technical glitches hit voter ID machines as Islamist Boko Haram militants killed more than a dozen people in drive-by shootings including a vying member of Parliament.
Its a close race between incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and The race pits President Goodluck Jonathan and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and this election is the first one in which an opposition candidate has a serious chance of unseating the incumbent, and widespread fears it could trigger violence are already becoming reality.
Voters who were unable to cast their ballot because of technical problems on Saturday returned to the polls on Sunday, as the main parties traded accusations over the use of the technology.
The country’s electoral commission said some 300 of the 150,000 polling stations would be open on Sunday to accredit voters after handheld devices to read biometric identity cards failed.
Thousands of people demonstrated in the Rivers state, as the head of electoral commission said he was concerned about allegations of irregularities there.
Boko Haram launched several attacks on voters in the northeast on election day, killing three peopl in Yobe state and 11 in neighboring Gombe.
The fighters, who are trying to establish an Islamic caliphate in religiously mixed Nigeria, reject democracy and their leader Abubakar Shekau has threatened to kill those who go to vote.
A string of military victories by troops from Nigeria and neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger has reclaimed much of the territory the Islamists controlled earlier this year, but they retain the ability to mount deadly attacks on civilians.
