Nigeria count votes as final ballots cast after delays

ABUJA - A handful of polling stations remained open to allow more Nigerians to vote yesterday in what is expected to be a tight presidential race between President Muhammadu Buhari and businessman Atiku Abubakar in Africa’s top oil producer.

Buhari, 76, a former military ruler who is seeking a second elected term on an anti-corruption platform faces Atiku, 72, a former vice president who has promised to expand the role of the private sector in Africa’s largest economy.

Voters had queued late into the night on Saturday in a few areas of Africa’s most populous nation where polling stations had opened late or ballot machines malfunctioned. A handful of these opened again yesterday to make up for the delays.

Nearly 73 million eligible voters cast their ballots from a pool of more than 70 presidential candidates in an election which was postponed the previous Saturday, just hours before it was due to begin, due to logistics.

It was not clear when the outcome of the results would be announced.

“Everything is going on well with the count,” said Festus Okoye, an Independent National Electoral Commission official.

“From Tuesday onwards we should have a substantial number of results.”

Both Buhari, the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress and Atiku, who represents the People’s Democratic Party, expressed confidence that they would win the election.

“The best candidate must emerge and people’s opinion must count,” said Asiwaju Ola, a businessman in the capital Abuja.