Abuja--Nigerians on Monday awaited the first results of a closely fought general election, with protests over the conduct of the vote and a warning of manipulation of the count heightening fears of poll-related violence.
The presidential election pitting President Goodluck Jonathan against former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari is the closest in Nigeria's history, and first with a credible opposition challenge.
International election observers gave broadly positive reactions to the conduct of the vote, despite late delivery of election materials and technical glitches with new voter authentication devices.
But Nigeria's Transition Monitoring Group, which had observers across the country, said: "These issues did not systematically disadvantage any candidate or party."
All eyes now are on the results, collation of which began at about 1300 GMT. Violence has often flared in previous Nigerian votes after the winner is announced.
And as tension mounted, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his British counterpart Philip Hammond warned of any rigging of the count. "So far, we have seen no evidence of systemic manipulation of the process," they said in a joint statement from the sidelines of the Iran nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland.
"But there are disturbing indications that the collation process -- where the votes are finally counted -- may be subject to deliberate political interference," they added.
Kayode Idowu, spokesman for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) told AFP that there was "no basis" for the claim.
"There is no interference at all... We have no evidence of political interference," he said.
- Wait and see -
Kaduna state, one of the area's worst-affected by violence four years ago when some 1,000 people were killed in post-election clashes, was said to be calm but there were mixed sentiments in the largest city in the north, Kano.
"Election violence doesn't pay anybody. I think Nigerians have learnt from the fallout of 2011 and they are ready to be peaceful and... and behave responsibly," said civil servant Salawu Abubakar.
But Suleyman Maaji, who also works for the government, added: "A lot of people decided to stay behind closed doors because they don't know, they are afraid. They don't know what might happen."
AFP
