Confusion reigns in Nigerian elections

Nigerians went to the polls yesterday to choose state governors in the first of two elections which should lead to the first fully democratic transition in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer.

Voting began hours late in many polling stations in the three major cities of Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano. Turnout was uneven and many voters complained of logistical problems.

The conduct and results of the vote at state level will give Nigerians an idea of what to expect from presidential polls in one week's time.

"I have been to 10 polling booths, but I can't find my name anywhere. I feel very frustrated and angry. I am going home," said Princewell Ebom, an engineer, in the densely populated Yaba district of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city.

In the northern city of Kano, where a Muslim cleric was assassinated in a mosque on Friday, many polling stations opened about two hours late and voters complained of a lack of privacy.

In the southern oil capital of Port Harcourt, where two police stations were burned down overnight and seven policemen killed, polling stations in those parts of town were deserted.

Government officials also reported two dead and one wounded in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, but details were not immediately available.

In a different part of Port Harcourt, a polling station just a few hundred meters from the electoral agency's offices was still waiting for its voting material one and a half hours after it was supposed to have opened.

While the military manned the roads, police were deployed at polling stations throughout the country. The government ordered the closure of its land and sea borders for 12 hours yesterday to "ensure a hitch-free electoral process," an interior ministry statement said.

Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 after three decades of almost continuous army rule. However, dozens of people have been killed in political violence in the months leading up to the poll. Dozens of mostly opposition candidates have been disqualified and poor preparations have raised doubts about the credibility of the election.