Voting extended in Nigeria oil hub as regional poll results loom

Port Harcourt (Nigeria) (AFP) - Voting in Nigeria's key regional elections extended into Sunday in restive Rivers state after irregularities at some polling stations, as the nation anxiously awaited results for governorship and local assembly polls.

Rivers, a southern oil-producing hub, has emerged as flashpoint through Nigeria's historic 2015 election cycle, and security forces were deployed heavily around the capital Port Harcourt in anticipation of disputes over the results.

A total of 29 governorship and deputy governorship positions from Nigeria's 36 states are up for grabs as well as seats in all of the states' legislatures, with results expected to trickle in on Sunday.

Governors are influential figures in Africa's most populous nation, with near-total control of their states and collective power at a national level to bolster or check the presidency.

The main opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) is seeking to build on its current control of 14 states after its candidate Muhammadu Buhari won the presidential race two weeks ago, in the first democratic transfer of power in Nigeria's history.

President Goodluck Jonathan's ruling Peoples Democratic Party currently controls 21 states.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it was broadly satisfied with the polling process nationwide on Saturday, excluding Rivers, where local INEC officials conceded that malpractice had tainted the vote in some areas.

- Tense oil hub -

Tension in Rivers mounted in the run-up to the vote because of a personal rivalry between outgoing Governor Rotimi Amaechi and Jonathan after the former's defection to the APC in 2013.

INEC's top official in Rivers, Gesila Khan, said that voting has been extended in nine wards where election materials were never delivered to polling stations.

The results from Saturday's vote 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.

The APC alleged widespread rigging after Jonathan won Rivers with more than 95 percent in national polls, insisting it would not allow a repeat in the state vote.

Amaechi's spokeswoman Ibim Semenitari on Sunday accused the PDP of orchestrating a massive ballot-stuffing campaign and called on INEC to "ensure that the people's voices are not silenced."

There was no immediate response from the PDP.

- Battleground Lagos -

Nigeria's economic capital Lagos has been controlled by the opposition since the end of military rule in 1999, but the PDP has campaigned hard in the megacity and surrounding state of the same name.

Some experts have said PDP candidate Jimi Agbaje could pull out a surprise win over the APC's Akinwunmi Ambode, who is hoping to succeed Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Fashola steps down after a maximum two four-year terms during which he strived to improve Lagos' infrastructure and enhance its appeal as an investment centre, but he faced criticism over slum clearance.

- Jonathan's example praised -

Experts believe the opposition could add to its tally of governors with the central state of Plateau as well as Kaduna in the north.

There has been dissatisfaction with outgoing PDP governor Jonah Jang in Plateau, while Kaduna, a religiously and ethnically mixed state, voted nearly 70 percent in favour of Buhari two weeks ago.

Taraba in the east is in the spotlight because it could return a female governor for the first time in Nigeria's history in the shape of Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan.

Jonathan made history two weeks ago by conceding the election before the final results were announced, winning plaudits for his statesmanship and for defusing the threat of violence.

Information Minister Patricia Akwashiki on Saturday urged candidates in the local polls to follow his example, with post-poll violence having hit previous elections in Nigeria.

"If our president was able to walk away from an election and accept defeat, everybody, the winner and the loser, should be able to accept that the people's will is what will carry the day," local media quoted her as saying.