As Results Trickle In, Nigerian Presidential Election Too Close to Call

Nigeria’s bitterly contested presidential election went down to the wire Monday as the national election commission began announcing results. With almost a quarter of the ballots counted, the election was on a knife edge, with about 2.3 million votes apiece for President Goodluck Jonathan and his rival, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.

In the final hours of the count, Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond took the unusual step of warning of “disturbing indications” of possible rigging of the results.

Voting in Nigeria’s election saw delays and glitches with new electronic technology, although no one was prevented from voting. There also were scattered incidents of violence, ballot-box theft and intimidation across the country.

This article appeared in print on page 2 of the March 31st, 2015 edition of Hamodia.