Abuja--Nigeria's closely fought general election went into a second day on Sunday after failures in controversial new technology snarled the polling, including for President Goodluck Jonathan.
At the same time, military fighter jets and ground troops pounded Boko Haram fighters in the northeastern state of Bauchi after a series of attacks on polling stations on Saturday and Sunday.
The presidential election in Africa's most populous nation is the closest in the country's history, with the first credible challenge from an opposition party.
Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been in power since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999 but is being pushed to the wire by former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.
The prospect of a democratic transfer of power -- plus economic woes caused by the slump in global oil prices, concerns about about corruption and fears about insecurity -- has energised the vote.
One government spokesman claimed there was a "record turnout" and voting was largely peaceful despite sporadic pockets of unrest mainly in southern states such as the key battleground of Rivers.
The technical difficulties, however, set the tone for a potential dispute as the PDP has opposed the use of the devices to authenticate voters, saying they were not sufficiently tested.
Buhari's All Progressives Congress (APC) supports the new system as a means of curbing voter fraud that has marred previous elections.
- 'No shenanigans' -
Wrangling over the results has already begun after counting on Saturday, some of it by flashlight with Nigeria regularly plunged into darkness by daily power cuts.
There has been a flurry of claimed constituency successes from both sides, and APC spokesman Lai Mohammed warned about vote manipulation.
"There must be no shenanigans," he said.
The PDP has described the failure of the technology to read biometric data such as fingerprints on the president's own voter identity card as a "huge national embarrassment".
AFP
