Tension mounts as voting continues in Rivers

Voting has been extended into Sunday in a key regional election in Nigeria’s restive Rivers state after irregularities at some polling stations, officials said.

The extension affects nine wards in the oil-rich southern state, said the state’s top electoral officer Gesila Khan.



She said that in some instances key election materials were never delivered to polling stations.
The results from Saturday’s election have been thrown out in other parts of the state after ballot papers were openly stolen, she added.

As Khan did not specify how many areas were affected, it was not immediately possible to estimate the impact on the statewide result.

Rivers has emerged as the key battleground in Nigeria’s 2015 regional elections, after the state saw unrest during presidential polls last month.

Tensions has been fuelled by personal rivalry between outgoing governor Rotimi Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan after the former’s defection to the opposition All Progressives Congress in 2013.

Amaechi’s spokeswoman Ibim Semenitari on Sunday accused Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of trying to steal the election through a massive ballot stuffing effort.

She called on the Independent National Electoral Commission to investigate the APC’s claims and to “ensure that the people’s voices are not silenced.”

The heavy security presence deployed ahead of the vote in the state capital Port Harcourt continued on Sunday in anticipation of the final result being disputed.

Jonathan, who lost the national vote to challenger Muhammadu Buhari, won Rivers with more than 95 percent support.

Some analysts have suggested that Jonathan’s dominance in the state pointed to a likely victory for PDP governorship candidate Nyesom Wike, but the APC has insisted that its candidate Dakuku Peterside could win if the polls were free and fair.