Nigeria’s electoral commission chair Mahmood Yakubu declared on Sunday that he was generally happy with the progress made in the conduct of the presidential and national elections.

Yakubu, who was addressing journalists on Sunday following Saturday’s vote admitted that there had been some glitches in several parts of the country, including in the two capitals of Lagos and Abuja.

Nearly 73 million eligible voters cast their ballots from a pool of more than 70 presidential candidates in an election which was postponed the previous Saturday, just hours before it was due to begin, due to logistics.

Results are expected to start trickling in early on Monday with a “substantial number” likely on Tuesday, election commission official Festus Okoye said.

It is widely expected to be a tight presidential race between President Muhammadu Buhari and businessman Atiku Abubakar.Buhari maintains lead, with wins in 10 states

Incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari, has maintained a lead over his closest rival, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP after results have been declared in 16 states, as of Tuesday morning.

Buhari has so far won in 10 states including Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Nasarawa and Kogi states. He also got majority votes in the states of Gombe, Yobe, Niger state, Jigawa and Kaduna.

Atiku won in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Ondo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi and Anambra states.

In real figures, Buhari is leading with 5,410,573 votes against Atiku’s 4,372,913 votes.

The candidate with the most votes is declared winner as long as they have at least one-quarter of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital. Otherwise there is a run-off.

Main opposition PDP reject results, Buhari leads

The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has contested verified results being announced by the elections body, INEC, in the capital Abuja.

Two days after the vote, INEC started releasing final results of the February 23 presidential poll that pits incumbent Muhammadu Buhari against main opposition candidate and ex-veep Atiku Abubakar.

At a press conference in the capital Abuja on Monday, PDP Chairman Uche Secondus said: “All results currently been announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is incorrect, this is unacceptable to our party and the people.

//SC//Africannews//