Nigerian results trickled in Wednesday after state governor polls marred by bombs, ballot thefts and shootings as it stumbled to the end of a landmark election period hit by deadly riots. Police warned they would be ready in case of another outbreak of violence over results, with rioting after the April 16 presidential poll believed to have killed hundreds.
“For now, the police are on the alert and on ground in case we have a backlash like we had in the presidential election,” said spokesman Olusola Amore.
Police were also hunting a suspected Islamist sect member who opened fire at a polling station in the northeastern city of Maiduguri during voting on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding four, authorities said. Ballot-box thefts were reported in a number of states in Africa’s most populous nation despite tight security and safeguards meant to stop such fraud.
Turnout appeared low in many areas either out of apathy or fears of further violence. In Maiduguri, which has long been hit by violence blamed on the sect, seven suspected Islamists were arrested on allegations of seeking to plant a bomb on a busy street during the polls, the state police commissioner said.
Police in Borno state, where Maiduguri is the capital, also arrested more than 20 other suspects over election fraud allegations, including those accused of attempting to snatch ballot papers. Three explosions went off Tuesday morning in Maiduguri, but no casualties were reported. Bomb blasts there killed at least three people and wounded 15 on Sunday and Monday.
There were reports of electoral workers in various parts of the country refusing to show up on Tuesday for fear of further attacks following last week’s riots, which a local rights group says killed more than 500 people. Police in the southern oil state of Delta also found two bombs on Tuesday, one of them near the offices of the electoral agency, but they were safely defused.
Results began to emerge Wednesday, with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party hanging on to Enugu state in the southeast and looking set to maintain control in Rivers in the oil-producing Niger Delta region — no surprise for either.
The vote reportedly had to be canceled in one ward of Rivers state, however, due to ballot-box snatching. The opposition Action Congress of Nigeria seemed secure in the economic capital Lagos, and initial reports indicated it could take southwestern Ogun state from the ruling PDP. The rioting across the country’s mainly Muslim north after the presidential election won by southern incumbent Goodluck Jonathan displaced an estimated 74,000.