Last chance for Nigeria poll bid

It took a long time for many people to complete the voting process
Nigeria's Vice-President Atiku Abubakar goes to the Supreme Court shortly in what is seen as his last chance to take part in Saturday's presidential poll.
He is challenging his disqualification over corruption allegations, which he says are politically motivated.

The strongest remaining opposition candidate is not confident the election will be fair.

The ruling People's Democratic Party won a clear majority of the state governorship contests held on Saturday.

Opposition supporters took to the streets in parts of the country on Sunday, claiming the results had been rigged.

Tension is said to be high in many Nigerian cities, with a curfew imposed in Kano and sporadic shooting heard in Lagos.

'Thugs'

Opposition presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari said election officials and police had been biased against his All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) in seven states.

"To get whole states where the elections were not fair, and where there was violence, is quite disturbing," he told the BBC.

KEY STATE RESULTS

Lagos: AC
Katsina: PDP
Rivers: PDP
Kano: Suspended
Imo: Postponed
Oyo; PDP
Abia; PPA
Bayelsa;PDP
Rivers; PDP
Ogun; PDP
Delta; PDP

Difficult day at polls
"The PDP stalwarts are organising thugs, carrying away boxes, diverting other election materials."

The police say that 21 people died in election clashes over the weekend, although local media report up to 50 dead.

A reporter of an international News t saw men storming a polling station and leaving with ballot papers in the southern city of Port Harcourt.

Political office is often seen as the quick path to real enrichment - a chance to tap into the country's huge oil revenues, especially in the oil-rich south of the country, our correspondent says.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but unrest in the oil-producing Niger Delta has cut output by some 20%.

The PDP has won 26 of the 32 states declared so far.

The ANPP has won the northern states of Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Zamfara.

Mr Abubakar's Action Congress has retained control of the state of Lagos, the commercial capital and the small Progressive People's Alliance has won in the south-eastern Abia State.

The Election Commission said two other south-eastern states - Imo and Enugu - will have to re-run their elections because of irregularities.

Results are still awaited from Kano and Taraba states.





The announcement of the results in the most populous state, Kano, was suspended amid high tension with both the PDP and ANPP declaring victory.

Opposition supporters burned down government buildings in northern Katsina State, after the PDP candidate was declared the victor.

The state election was cancelled in south-eastern Imo State because of election malpractice.

The presidential contest should see the first time one civilian administration hands power to another since Nigeria's independence from Britain in 1960.

President Olusegun Obasanjo is standing down after two terms in office.

The elections were relatively peaceful on the island,Ikoyi, obalende, Falomo, victoria island, Awolowo Road, Dolphin Estate, Ikeja, Surulere , Ajengunle , Apapa , Costain, Bariga and others.

In obalende voting didn't start till 10.30am in some polling boot while others started 11am.
Results in some of the booths in obalende shows that the Action Congress leads handsomely.PDP comes second, DPA is third.While the Labour Party is Fourth.
Other Parties like Accord, ANPP, APGA, PPA , FRESH had one or two votes respectively in obalende, Dolphin , ikoyi and Victoria island.
So far, the AC to me is leading on the island.
Sincerely speaking it will be a shock to me if PDP wins the Guber race in Lagos.
Party Agents of some the parties were paid from 1200 to 2500 naira.
The Action Congress did well in taking care of there Polling agents, they were given 2500 respectively. In between the elctions they were served Fried riceand chicken, a bottle of soft drink and water.
The PDP also took care of its agents well. They given a plate of rice and chicken with drinks

DPA is the only party that paid its agent before the start of the elections.They were paid 2500 naira.

Labour party was the party that paid the least, with 1200 naira only. some of the agents i spoke with promised not work for labour party in the forthcoming presidential elections.

The Action Congress was the only party that motivated decided and undecided voters who camre to vote at each polling booth in obalende, Dolphin and Ikoyi. Some of the Voters were given 100 Naira free recharge cards for MTN, CELTEL and GLO.
Reports just got to me that PDP has won 15 of the 20 local governemnt councils we have in lagos.

I had a parleychat with representatives of the British High Commission concerning the elections. They were at obalende at about 2.30 pm.They said the elections were okay but it started late.

Lest i forget one startling thing i saw at the polling booth were uniformed men.I can identify the Police, Army , Custom , Navy, Air force, Immigration but the NDLEA at a Polling booth was shocking.The question i asked is if they were here to arrest drug traffickers.The size and presence of Military personnel was a swipe.

Two Persons were feared dead in the lagos island area of Evans.

Most people didn't vote because there names were not found in the registration book.

I have Pictures which i shall post to the forum on Monday.

While we wait for the results from INEC lets pray for God's Mercy.

NB;
INEC had already advised people to disregard the results on their website, as some hackers are capable of posting fake or inconclusive results on the site. Hence, I guess the results would only be posted on the site after the complete results have been announced via other media (TV, Radio, etc).