Johannesburg — Some 60 million registered voters were eligible to return to the polls in Nigeria, Saturday, to elect their countrys next president and 36 influential state governors.
Nigerians were holding their breath that the presidential ballot would go smoothly, after violent incidents and allegations of vote rigging during the past week.
The latest in a series of landmark nationwide elections followed an increasingly disputed legislative poll last weekend, to choose the new members of Nigerias two-chamber national assembly.
Tension has been growing as the main opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and other parties questioned the conduct of last Saturdays poll, alleging fraud by President Olusegun Obasanjos governing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
There were also reports of violence in some parts of the country during the parliamentary election, including the volatile oil-producing Niger Delta region in the south.
The presidential poll, amid tight security, has been reported generally peaceful, though tension was high in some areas. Voting was made possible in Nigeria by foot, by car, by boat and, in some cases, by motorbike in the presence of armed police and soldiers to ensure a peaceful election, after last weeks disruptions.
The day dawned grey and drizzly in the capital Abuja and coastal metropolis Lagos, respectively in the heart and south of the country, where voting began promptly, with few reported problems. Later, heavy rain disrupted polling.
Obasanjo, a former army general and military ruler, is a Christian from the dominant southwestern Yoruba tribe. He is seeking re-election for a second four-year term. The president voted early, accompanied by his wife Stella, in his home area of Abeokuta in Ogun State in the Yoruba heartland.
Under clear and sunny blue skies in the north, Obasanjos main challenger, ANPP candidate retired General Muhammadu Buhari, voted first thing in the morning with his wife, Aishat in the town of Daura, in his home Katsina state, close to the Sahara desert,.
Buhari is also a former military head of state and one of four senior retired army officers contesting the presidential ballot. He has accused Obasanjos party of electoral malpractice, threatening "mass action" if the opposition perceived more vote rigging in Saturdays poll.
Obasanjo wrote to Buhari this week, warning his main rival against urging his followers to resort to violence or provoking the security forces. "Let me emphatically urge you not to incite the society and law enforcement agencies," he said.
"I as the elected president have the responsibility for maintaining peace, law and order at any time and in any part of this country, and this transcends party politics," continued the letter. "It is a constitutional responsibility I owe to this nation and I intend to use all constitutional means and authority to discharge this responsibility to the full, election time or not."
Obasanjos PDP defeated Buharis ANPP and other opposition parties in the legislative polls, sweeping to victory in the contested national assembly elections. This gave the presidents party an outright majority in both chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Nigerias Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) this week acknowledged serious shortcomings in its organisation of the parliamentary election. Inec pledged to do better during the crucial presidential and gubernatorial ballots.
Reports said voters in the predominantly Muslim northern states were generally able to cast their ballots on time Saturday, in the presence of heavy security by armed police and soldiers. But there were reports in some areas of the late arrival of voting materials.
Problems continued in some of Nigerias flashpoints, among them the oil-rich Delta, with protests at delays and a late start to voting. Journalists reported chaos and confusion at some polling stations, where frustrated party agents and other officials waited for voting materials long after the ballot was due to start at 08h00 local time (07h00 GMT.)
Polling stations countrywide were scheduled to close at 15h00 local time (14h00 GMT). But it appeared that voting would be extended to allow everyone queuing in long lines to vote.
Nigeria is hoping to make history by successfully holding a civilian-organised election followed by a transition to another duly elected administration that will succeed in staying in power.
Obasanjo first came to power as a military leader in 1976 and voluntarily handed over to an elected civilian government three years later. In 1999, he returned to office in the first civilian elections held after 15 years of military rule.
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Buhari seized power in a coup 20 years ago, overthrowing the constitutional administration of President Shehu Shagari, but was toppled in a bloodless palace putsch two years later, in 1985.
Apart from Obasanjo and Buhari, eighteen other presidential candidates were registered for Saturdays election.
The aspirations of many Nigerians, who spoke to allAfrica.com in the run up to the polls, centred on a better life for all citizens, an end to widespread poverty and a more equal distribution of wealth in the oil-rich nation. Most people said successive governments had squandered Nigeria's oil riches, with nothing to show for their profligate spending.
They also mentioned the need for peace, and especially security, as well as more jobs, better education and health facilities and a more reliable delivery of public utilities including power and pipe-borne water.
Nigeria has the largest population in Africa of 120 million people, is among the continents most complex and diverse countries and, note analysts, is one of the most difficult to govern.
