Nigeria election 2023: anticipated first results

The initial results from Nigeria’s closest election since the end of military rule in 1999 are anticipated later.

Voting has been pushed back till Sunday in various parts of the nation due to major delays and a few attacks on polling places on Saturday.

In some places, voting went on all night.

In particular, among young people, who make up approximately one-third of the 87 million eligible voters, turnout seems to be strong.

As a result, it is Africa’s largest democratic exercise.

The two-party system that has ruled Nigeria for the past 24 years has faced an unprecedented threat in the election.

Potential winners include Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peter Obi of the previously unknown Labour Party, and Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). There are 15 other people running for president.

Long lines at the polls on Saturday, as well as sporadic claims of vote boxes being stolen and attacks by armed men, particularly in southern districts, where Mr. Obi has his strongest support, marred the election.

In the Lekki neighborhood of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, Dr. Nkem Okoli was ready to cast his ballot when masked thugs assaulted the polling place.

“There was utter chaos. They shattered [the ballot box], and there were bottles flying everywhere, she said. The authorities’ phones were taken by the thieves. We are no longer able to vote.”

At least five states had voting that started in certain locations three and a half hours after polls were scheduled to close.

One woman claimed on Twitter that she illuminated the voting and tallying process at night by using the headlights of her car.

In a few locations in the southern Bayelsa state, the election was postponed until Sunday.

Henry Rosaline
Despite the Saturday delays, Harrison Rosaline was committed to voting.
Harrison Rosaline reported that she waited for five hours on Saturday to cast her ballot, but no election officials showed there. She did, however, return with her two-month-old child, and she is happy to have finally cast her vote.

“I was inspired because I want to see Nigeria improve. I want my baby and everyone else in this country to be happy “She spoke to the BBC.

There is unrest in some areas of the states of Rivers and Lagos, where some political parties have urged their supporters to visit the locations where votes are being counted to guard against fraud.

The usage of the recently implemented electronic voting system has also drawn criticism, with many voters accusing election officials of failing to upload the results at the polling places as they are required to.

Results are, however, being posted outside of each polling place in those areas where voting went well.

Nigeria’s election atmosphere in 60 seconds

The results will then be totalled up from tens of thousands of voting locations across the nation. The results will subsequently be announced state-by-state in the capital, Abuja, with the first announcements anticipated later on Sunday after 17:00 GMT. Each of Nigeria’s 36 states will send a representative to this event.

Final results might not be available until Wednesday or even Monday, at the earliest.

Nigeria makes a decision: Results of the election
Election information you should be aware of
Mahmood Yakubu, the director of elections, issued an apology for the delays in voting during a press conference on Saturday.

A few voting places in the northern state of Katsina and the southern state of Delta had been attacked by armed individuals, according to Mr. Yakubu, who also claimed that voter-card verification devices had been taken.

Then, he continued, they were changed out, and security was increased to permit voting.

Mr. Yakubu claimed that armed Islamists in the Borno state of northeastern Nigeria opened fire on election officials from a mountaintop in the Gwoza region, injuring a number of authorities.