Nigerians turned to the polls in droves of millions this Saturday to vote in their presidential election amidst violence from Boko Haram. The election, analysts say, will be a close call between President Goodluck Jonathan and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari. Boko Haram, the Islamic extremist insurgents who recently pledged allegiance to ISIS was there in three villages disparaging would be voters.
Voters from the south, which is rich in oil, traditionally support President Goodluck Jonathan could be the key in the outcome of the first election in Nigeria’s history where an opposing candidate has a realistic chance of defeating a sitting President.
In the northeast, lies the center of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, who has made a pledge to ISIS and has vowed to disrupt the democratic elections at any cost, calling democracy a corrupt Western concept. Boko Haram has killed some 10,000 Nigerian citizens already in the last year alone.
There is heavy security in place to protect voters from would be extremist assailants. Boko Haram extremists were waving guns forcing voters to abandon polling stations in three villages so far.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is hoping to prevent fraud and mistreatment of voters with a new biometric identification system. In past elections there were allegations of fraud, such as in the 2011 elections where some 800 people were killed in rioting and sectarian violence.
The official website of the INEC was hacked but was quickly secured saying the website held no sensate material.
The new biometric voting system spurred a lot of difficulty and even President Jonathan had trouble when he tried to cast his vote, having to wait hours for the system to finally work. He urged his citizens to be patient, as he had, to ensure a fair and peaceful voting process, one that “the world will respect.”
Both parties said they will respect the outcome given the election process is “free, fair, and credible”.
Jonathan, 57, is a Christian from the oil rich Niger Delta region in the south, and Buhari, 72, is a Muslim from the north with ties to the military.
The election has been delayed up until this point from mid-February because of insecurity in the northeast where Boko Haram has raged since 2009. Jonathan’s campaign has lost credibility because of his inability to stop the problem, while the main opposition has formed a coalition for the first time under candidate Buhari.
