Although he leaves behind a mixed legacy, he and Nelson Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in ending the apartheid regime and steering the country onto the path towards democracy. President Muhammadu Buhari raises his fist during an inspection of honour guards on parade to mark Democracy Day in Abuja, on June 12, Digital subscription.
Africa Insight. Inec has approved the presence of international and local observers to monitor the elections, although the European Union says its observers will not deploy in the north-east due to security concerns.
Parliament amended the electoral law on 15 January, allowing an estimated one million people displaced by the insurgency to cast their votes. They can vote at specially-provided facilities near or within camps in their states of origin. In Nigeria, as in many parts of Africa, exit polls are rarely used to call elections as results are so often disputed.
Once votes have been counted, the results from each polling unit will be uploaded to the electoral commission's website. Inec says it expects to announce the final results within 48 hours. In reality though, the final outcome may not be known for some time. And judging by previous elections, it is likely that the results will be challenged.
If there is no outright winner in the first round, the law states a run-off election must be held within seven days. But Inec has said it is doubtful whether a run-off vote could be organized in a week. Victory in a run-off election is by simple majority. Parliamentary elections have also been put back to 28 March, with candidates vying for a place in the seat Senate and 1, seeking election to the seat National Assembly.
Nigerians will vote again on 11 April to choose new governors and state assemblies for 29 of the 36 states. Like the president, governors are limited to two four-year terms, so this election will see new occupants in many states. Governors hold huge sway because they allocate federally disbursed revenue and shape policy on development and security in their states.
Among the key states to watch are Lagos, Kano and Rivers - currently in APC hands - because of their large populations and economic power. Some people have been taken into custody suspected of electoral offences, reports say. The initial vote was postponed early on 16 February, five hours before polls were due to open. Voters were also choosing members of the House of Representatives and Senate. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
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Full results by state. Who is Buhari? Image source, Reuters. Muhammadu Buhari was first elected president in file photo. Read full profile. The army said in a statement that on election day, unidentified people attacked soldiers, killing one, and that the soldiers killed six of the attackers in response.
The Nigerian Army on the same day announced the creation of a committee to investigate allegations of misconduct against its personnel during the elections. The committee was given two weeks to produce its findings, but it has not published its report. Banditry and the recurring cycles of deadly violence between herdsmen and farmers appear to have taken the lives of thousands.
According to civil society reports, over 3, people have died from deadly clashes between herdsmen and farmers since and at least people have been killed by bandits since the beginning of in Zamfara State alone. The government deployed 1, military troops to the state in response, but few of those responsible for the violence have been arrested or held to account.
Security forces have been implicated in serious abuses, including arbitrary arrests, prolonged detention without trial, torture, extrajudicial killings, rape and sexual violence against women and girls in camps for displaced people. Authorities have also failed to address impunity for killings by security forces elsewhere in the country. For more on electoral violence during the general elections, please see below. There were reports of voter intimidation and violence around the elections at both the federal and state levels, including by armed men hired by candidates and political parties and by security forces, including the national police.
Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Sokoto, Plateau, and Rivers states were particularly affected by violence during the March 9 gubernatorial elections. The Independent National Electoral Commission canceled elections in places where the elections were disrupted, and held supplementary elections later. Kano state had supplementary elections on March 23, and Rivers state on April Kano and Rivers states were probably the worst hit of the six states.
They were identified by both local and international analysts ahead of the elections as holding great potential for electoral violence. Even during the relatively peaceful general elections, Rivers state recorded the highest number of incidents of violence with 16 out of the 66 incidents documented by the Independent National Electoral Commission across the country.
The stakes were particularly high in both states in the run up to the elections, owing to a widely reported rivalry between the incumbent and former governors. The political history of both Kano and Rivers states is of hotly contested elections characterized by violence, ballot box snatching, and maiming and killing both by state security agencies and by criminal elements. In both states, witnesses described violence by criminal elements hired by parties to disrupt the voting.
Witnesses in Rivers state said that people they identified as criminal elements working for the APC and the PDP were implicated in violence at election commission centers and polling places.
They hijacked voting materials, disrupted voting, and countered the activities of rival groups. The armed men threatened to kill the officials, destroyed ballot boxes, tore up ballots and snatched tallies of results. They assaulted and beat some election officials, the witnesses said. One person in charge of a polling place said the attackers beat and slashed a female colleague with a knife. Another official said that people they did not know called and ordered her and her colleagues to go to a certain location to sign off on election results they knew nothing about.
She fled the area in fear for her safety.
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