Nigeria’s ruling party has retained the powerful governorship of Lagos, the country’s electoral commission said on Monday, after a weekend of local elections marred by reports of violence and vote-buying.
So far, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declared the winner in most of the governorates where the counting of votes has been completed.
Governors are powerful figures in Nigeria and some control state budgets larger than some African countries.
Saturday’s election for 28 governors and more than 900 state assembly members of parliament came three weeks after the ruling party won presidential ballots that opposition candidates claimed were rigged en masse.
Outsider Peter Obi of the Labor Party (LP) caused a stir in the February 25 election by winning the most votes in Lagos, considered an APC fiefdom.
But he was only third nationwide and the APC candidate Bola Tinubu was declared the president-elect.
Both Obi and second runner-up Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contested the presidential result in court.
The main question on Saturday was whether Obi’s growing popularity, especially among Nigerian youths, would be successful in the local polls.
But APC’s Babajide Sanwo-Olu is counting on re-election as Lagos governor, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The incumbent won more than twice the number of votes of LP candidate Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and more than 10 times that of PDP hopeful Olajide Adediran.
They also passed the required threshold of 25 percent of the vote in two-thirds of the states, INEC said.
‘Despair’
So far, APC has won governorship races in Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kwara, Nasawara, Ogun, Sokoto and Yobe states.
PDP has won in Oyo, Bauchi and Akwa Ibom.
In hotly contested Kano state, the economic heartland of the predominantly Muslim north, thousands of supporters of the smaller New Nigeria People’s Party took to the streets to celebrate the APC’s trouncing.
“The victory of the NNPP is a victory for Kano because the will of the people has prevailed despite efforts to destroy it,” said 23-year-old Hajara Sani, who was watching the crowd.
Results are still pending on Monday in the southern state of Kali. Adamawa, in the northeast, could see the election of Nigeria’s first female governor.
Head of state Muhammadu Buhari of the APC stepped down in May after two terms and critics hoped the presidential election would bring change.
But many were disappointed with the way elections were conducted in February and the low turnout for Saturday’s local elections.
Voters and opposition parties complained in February that technical glitches allowed vote fraud, which the electoral commission rejected.
The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), which observed the polls on Saturday, noted on the part of the country “discouragement due to the poor results of the presidential election ‘useless’ to go out to vote”.
Despite the signs of low turnout, the group of observers Yiaga Africa said it had noted “significant improvement in the management of electoral logistics” on Friday.
Nigeria’s new president and governor will take office as Africa’s most populous country and largest economy struggles with insecurity and poverty.
Beatings and arrests
Polling units are usually opened on time and biometric registration machines and online portals for viewing results are working well, said Yiaga Afrika and CDD.
But violence was recorded in several countries, with thugs turning up at polling units to intimidate voters and in some cases destroy election materials.
In the south-eastern part of Imo State, where armed separatist groups are active, a group of ad hoc election staff were taken prisoner on Saturday morning. He was quickly rescued but the election materials were lost.
In Lagos, the CDD said there were reports in Lagbasa and Ajah areas of “voters being whipped”.
Amnesty International warned the tactic was “used to intimidate people from voting”.
“Many are seriously injured… This is unacceptable and must be thoroughly investigated,” the rights group said on Twitter.
As a result of the tension, voting was postponed until Sunday at some polling stations in Lagos and Rivers State.
“The process is being disrupted by actors beyond our control,” INEC official Festus Okoye said on Sunday evening.
He condemned the violence and said that “allegations of voter incitement, interference and manipulation of results will be looked into and dealt with”.
Buying more votes than during the presidential election, observers reported earlier.
Party agents were seen offering 1,000 naira (about two dollars) in exchange for votes, as well as spaghetti, cloth and alcohol, Yiaga Afrika said.