Elections marked by violence | At least …

At least 16 people died in Nigeria yesterday as presidential elections were held. Election day began with an attack in the northern city of Maiduguri attributed to the jihadist group Boko Haram, which announced on Friday its intention to disrupt the elections. There were also explosions in Yobe, which is why the elections in that city were postponed until the afternoon. These facts, however, have not prevented the holding of elections in which the current head of state, Muhamadu Buhari, and the opposition candidate, Atiku Abunakar, are contesting the presidency. At the end of this edition, the votes were counted and the result will be announced in the coming days. In the oil city of Port Harcourt, several explosions also occurred early in the morning, as well as flights of ballot boxes and election materials. In the same state, but in the city of Rivers, at least four people were killed, including a lieutenant, during a clash between the Nigerian army and an armed group at the root of unrest . "The attackers blocked a main road leading to the city and ambushed adjacent built-up areas from which they opened fire on our unsuspecting troops when they attempted to suppress the barricade," he said. said the spokesman of the army.

President Buhara, 76, a leader of the Allied Congress, voted early in the city of Daura and said he was confident he could win. "I'm going to congratulate myself," the president told the media in his constituency. The president did not refer to the acts of violence and was satisfied with the development of the elections, which should have taken place the previous week. Abubakar, his 72-year-old opponent and leader of the People's Democratic Party, voted in the city of Yola, in the state of Adamawa (northeast), with the same enthusiasm as the president. "I hope a successful transition," said the optimist to the press.

Buhari, a former Muslim general who had ruled the country in 1983 during the military dictatorships, still enjoys great support in the north of the country, where he is from. His opponent, Abubakar, is also Muslim and from the north. Unlike Buhari, he is the middle and upper clbad candidate.

By the middle of the afternoon, the vote was already over in many schools, but in others, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians were still waiting to vote. "There will be extensions where schools will not be open on time," said the chairman of Nigeria's Independent Electoral Commission. Concern for acts of violence has delayed the start of the day in some cities. The terrorist group Boko Haram, which has claimed responsibility for these attacks, has been fighting since 2009 and the defeat of this organization was one of the main campaign promises of Buhari's previous and current elections.