Nigeria’s electoral authority defended its handling of the Feb. 25 presidential vote after the two main opposition parties said the collation of results was flawed and called for the entire process to be canceled.
(Bloomberg) — Nigeria’s electoral authority defended its handling of the Feb. 25 presidential vote after the two main opposition parties said the collation of results was flawed and called for the entire process to be canceled.
Allegations made by the Peoples Democratic Party and Labour Party that the Independent National Electoral Commission is declaring doctored results are “unfounded and irresponsible,” Rotimi Oyekanmi, a spokesman for the agency, said in a statement on Tuesday. The scores announced so far “point to a free, fair and credible process,” he said.
The PDP, LP and African Democratic Congress earlier alleged that there were “monumental disparities” between the official results and the data gathered by their own polling agents. While the objections are unlikely to halt the tallying, they could undermine the credibility of the election outcome. Nigeria’s bonds due 2051 declined after the opposition’s pronouncement, losing two cents on the dollar at 69.55 cents, yielding 12.14%.
Nigeria’s Presidential Election Results by State
Vote Count Suspended in Oil Hub (Feb. 28, 3 p.m.)
An electoral officer in Rivers State, Nigeria’s main oil hub, suspended the collation of votes on Tuesday, saying he’d been blamed for the malfunctioning of the voter verification system and that his life had been threatened.
Charles Adias, state collation officer for the presidential election, told reporters, political party officials and law enforcement agents who had gathered at at the regional results center to disperse until the electoral commission had clarified his role to the public.
“I believe until INEC is able to address these misinformation, we shall reconsider and reconvene,” Adias said. “For now, collation is hereby adjourned.”
Ruling Party Claims Victory (Feb. 28 , 2 p.m.)
The ruling All Progressives Congress described opposition claims of fraud as unsubstantiated and accused them of casting aspersions on the whole electoral process.
It called on the PDP’s candidate Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, to concede defeat, saying ‘this election has already been won by our candidate.”
Lagos, Abuja Residents Stay Home, Await Results (Feb. 28, 1:30 p.m.)
Markets and streets in the commercial hub of Lagos and the capital Abuja were quieter than normal, with many people opting to stay at home until the final results are announced.
Several foreign diplomatic missions also urged citizens to stay off the streets until there is greater clarity on the outcome. Post-election crisis are common in Nigeria, with much of the population divided along religious and ethnic lines.
Early Count Shows Tinubu Winning Most States (Feb. 28, 10:40 a.m.)
Nigerian ruling-party candidate Bola Tinubu led the race to become the next president, with results from the vote tallied in more than a third of the West African nation’s three dozen states.
Tinubu won seven states, compared with four for Abubakar, according to results released Tuesday by INEC. Outsider Obi secured the most support in Lagos, the country’s commercial center, and two other states, while the opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party won in the northern state of Kano.
The winner has to garner the majority of votes and more than 25% of ballots in at least 24 of the states and the federal capital territory of Abuja.
Nigeria Vote Unlikely to Revive its Oil Industry (Feb. 27, 16:40 p.m.)
Whatever the outcome of the election, a revitalization of the nation’s oil industry is seen as unlikely in the short to medium term. Oil production has been in decline for over a decade, dropping from more than 2.5 million barrels per day in 2011 to less than 1.3 million barrels a day last year.
Fiscal hardship, persistent oil theft and the prioritization of lower-risk assets by oil majors remain significant bottlenecks that do not lend themselves to a quick-fix solution.
–With assistance from Emele Onu and Anthony Osae-Brown.
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