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ABUJA, Nigeria – Nearly two hours after the vote in the Nigerian presidential election officially opened on Saturday, an election official grabbed Florence Michael's thumb, ready to mark her fingerprint so she could finally vote.
His thumb went over the ink pad before he pushed his hand away and told him to wait. Again. The workers of the polling station on the sidewalk along Gana Street, a few blocks away from the headquarters of the election officials here in Abuja, in the capital, were not quite ready for business. .
This was yet another delay to the already delayed elections in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, and one of many scenes of frustration among already frustrated voters. Last weekend, officials had postponed the vote for a week, citing logistical problems. This decision was made in the middle of the night, a few hours before the opening of polling stations.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who led Nigeria under a military regime in the 1980s, promised to continue the crackdown on corruption that helped him take office in 2015, his first democratic and peaceful transfer of power in the country. country. He is being contested for a second term by more than 70 candidates, including his main rival, Atiku Abubakar, former vice president and eternal candidate.
In the face of accusations of corruption, Abubakar pledged to create jobs – a powerful commitment to an electorate preoccupied with unemployment – and to support Nigeria's fragile economy, which is slowly recovering from the recession.
Security concerns, which are deteriorating in many parts of the country, have weighed on some areas where fiercely contested elections could trigger violence after the announcement of the results, as early as Monday. The two main candidates are from the north and many experts were concerned about whether a losing party would peacefully accept the results.
On Saturday night, Mr. Abubakar's badistants seemed to have spoiled for a fight, alleging irregularities before the results were compiled.
Analysts were expecting a lower turnout Saturday than if the elections were held last weekend. Nigeria does not have the right to vote by mail and many people have to travel long distances to vote in their home district where they are registered.
Having made this trip last weekend, many left after the postponement of the vote, without project of return.
Buhari announced a drop in the price of fuel to encourage voters to move to vote and said Friday a national holiday. But here in Abuja, many hotel workers did not vote because they worked double-shift to serve the hundreds of election observers in town.
To quell fears of electoral fraud, Buhari said earlier in the week that anyone trying to rig the vote could expect to be killed by security forces.
Buhari's critics say he fought corruption only when he helped him politically and did not keep his election promise to defeat Boko Haram, an Islamist insurgency that ravages the north. has been in the country for almost 10 years.
Two hours before the polls opened at 8am on Saturday, Boko Haram had already sent a scary reminder that he was far from being defeated. Bomb explosions and gunfire have been reported in scattered areas in the suburbs of Maiduguri, the founding city of Boko Haram, in the north-east.
Residents took refuge at home; some were afraid to vote. Government officials first told a skeptical electorate that the explosions were part of a military exercise before conceding later that the militants were responsible. The Boko Haram faction loyal to the Islamic State later stated that the latter was responsible.
In Rivers State, six people and one soldier were killed during an ambush by troops patrolling the area, a spokesman for the army said.
In the country's largest city, Lagos, violence erupted in several polling stations. Thugs threw bottles, wounding several people.
At 11.30, a quarter of the country's polling stations were still not open, according to YIAGA Africa, a pro-democracy non-profit group that sent 3,000 observers to polling stations.
In Yobe State, YIAGA Africa stated that observers were not allowed to perform their official duties and that in the state of Rivers, election materials had been stolen from several police offices. vote.
In the north-east of the country, aid workers reported that busloads of displaced people had arrived in camps in the countryside, claiming that they had been badembled by government officials who had paid them for their work. $ 6 equivalent to go home and vote for specific candidates.
In Lagos, state-of-the-art card readers have undermined a polling station. One of them did not recognize both the map and the footprint of Ebele Helen Odigie, who looked discouraged when she was not in charge. she was repressed. The workers tried unsuccessfully 22 times to have the reader recognize Ayokunle Fashola's voting card, but she was nevertheless allowed to vote.
At the Living Water polling station in Kubwa, just outside Abuja, the vote took place, but a security guard grabbed the phone from anyone who took a picture while online. This included Chibuzor Bonaventure taking a selfie. At 27, he is one of 51% of the country's 84 million registered voters, aged 18 to 35.
Just at the end of the street, in the compound of a Kubwa school, the vote began at the scheduled time, the card readers worked and people queued quietly in the Order, voting in cardboard booths.
This was not the case on Gana Street in Abuja, a district of walled villas, international banks and embbadies swirling with voters, confused when the vote was really about to start, two hours after the official opening of the station.
Election officials did not help much. They gathered over 400 people to write their names and voter numbers on scraps of paper and then asked them to check their names against a list stuck on a wall in the street. Shouts broke out.
"What's wrong with this country!" Shouted a man.
Finally, the voters were organized in alphabetical order in waiting lines. Several line jumpers incited more screaming. Things seemed to calm down, then the voters decided not to queue with the men. New lines have formed. New shouts broke out.
Younger voters gave way to Mrs. Michael, a 71-year-old food vendor, who came to the fore.
"The elections are open," announced a worker at 9:26 am "Voting has begun".
A silence fell on the crowd. Ms. Michael dodged a rope restraining voters from the registration table.
"No, not yet," said a worker.
Finally, Ms. Michael was allowed to vote, for Mr. Buhari. By the end of the vote, more than 500 people had voted at the Gana Street station, which had almost emptied even before its official closure.
A dozen men stayed, grouped in the shadow of a large tree with yellow flowers and hovering over a single smartphone. Everyone said he did not ask others to support. The subject was too hot. Instead, they checked their friends' Facebook accounts to see how votes went elsewhere.
"We want to vote and go home safely," said Olajide Taiwo, a surveyor. "We believe in Nigeria."
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