by Chinedu Asadu
ABUJA, Nigeria — Polling stations opened late across parts of Nigeria on Saturday as Africa’s most populous country held presidential and parliamentary elections amid a nationwide bank note shortage that left many without transport to their voting centers.
The elections come amid fears of violence, from Islamic militants in the north to separatists in the south, though officials did not postpone the vote as the last two presidential elections were.
In northeastern Borno state, policemen deployed to protect voting units were seen trekking long distances to get to their posts.
The delays raised concerns about whether voters would be disenfranchised. There were no electoral officials in more than 70% of voting units an hour before the vote was due to start, Samson Itodo, head of YIAGA Africa, Nigeria’s largest election observer group, told The Associated Press.
Logistic and security problems, including the snatching of some voting machines in parts of Delta and Katsina states and the inability to deploy workers to violent hotspots in the southeast contributed to delays, said Mahmood Yakubu, head of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission. Still, everyone would have the opportunity to vote, “no matter how long it takes,” he said.
Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping down after two four-year terms. Out of the field of 18 presidential candidates, three front-runners have emerged in recent weeks to replace Buhari: the ruling party candidate, the main opposition party candidate and a third party challenger who has drawn strong support from younger voters grappling with a 33% unemployment rate.
But whether those supporters would show up in force at the polling stations remained unclear as Nigerians have waited hours in line at banks across the country this past week in search of money.
Kingsley Emmanuel, 34, a civil engineer, said the cash scarcity was a real obstacle for many would-be voters.
“They don’t have the cash to pay for a commercial vehicle and most of them don’t accept (money) transfer,” he said from a polling station in the city of Yola in Yola city in Adamawa state. “So it is very difficult for them to access their polling unit.”
The vote is being carefully watched as Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and one of the continent’s top oil producers. By 2050, the U.N. estimates that Nigeria will tie with the United States as the third most populous nation in the world after India and China.
It is also home to one of the largest youth populations in the world: About 64 million of its 210 million people are between the ages of 18 and 35, with a median age of only 18.
Favour Ben, 29, who owns a food business in the capital, Abuja, said she was was backing third-party candidate Peter Obi.
“Obi knows what Nigerians need,” she said. “He knows what is actually disturbing us and I believe he knows how to tackle it.”
Thirty-five year-old businessman, Murtala Mohammed said he’s expecting something positive to come from this election. “People know that life is hard and everybody is suffering,” he said.
Buhari’s tenure was marked by concerns about his ailing health and frequent trips abroad for medical treatment. Two of the top candidates are in their 70s and both have been in Nigerian politics since 1999.
By contrast, at 61, Obi of the Labour party is the youngest of the front-runners and had surged in the polls in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s vote.
Still, Bola Tinubu has the strong support of the ruling All Progressives Congress party as an important backer of the incumbent president. And Atiku Abubakar has the name recognition of being one of Nigeria’s richest businessmen, having also served as a vice president and presidential hopeful in 2019 for his Peoples Democratic Party.
Analysts have said it is one of Nigeria’s most unpredictable elections, with Obi as the surprise candidate in what is usually a two-horse race. But the ruling party’s Tinubu insisted Saturday he would prevail.
Asked if he would congratulate the winner of the election if it is not him, Tinubu retorted: “It has to be me!”
Abubakar also told reporters after voting Saturday that he was “very optimistic” about this year’s election.
For the first time this year Nigeria’s election results will be transmitted electronically to headquarters in Abuja, a step officials say will reduce voter fraud. Officials also say they’ll be enforcing a ban on mobile phones inside voting booths to prevent vote-buying: images of the votes are usually sent as proof if people have received money to pick a certain candidate.
The full impact of Nigeria’s currency crisis on Saturday’s election was not immediately clear, though officials said they’d been able to get much of the money the government needed to carry out the vote. In Lagos, a policewoman who was in a bank queue to withdraw cash told The Associated Press on Thursday she has not been able to go where she was deployed for election duty because she could not get cash.
Some who traveled long distances to vote said once they arrived at the polls there was nowhere to withdraw money. “Thank God for my friend in the market that helped me with a little token, if not for him, I wouldn’t have been here,” said Onyekwere Goodness at a polling station in Agulu.
After officials in November announced the decision to redesign Nigeria’s currency, the naira, new bills have been slow to circulate. At the same time, older bank notes stopped being accepted, creating a shortage in a country where many use cash for daily transactions.
