Separate bomb blasts ripped through a polling station and a collation center in northeastern Nigeria Saturday as Africa's most populous nation began voting in elections marred by violence and delays.
A bomb exploded Friday at the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Suleja in central Nigeria, officials said, just one day before the country is set to start voting in national elections.
There have been riots, bombings and assassinations in Nigeria, yet not a vote has been cast in what has turned out to be the most expensive election in Africa's history.
No voting equipment, no election officials, no security and an election chairman indicating events are out of his control.
Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission is urging would-be voters to turn out for the scheduled voter registration session in January, in hopes for a "free fair and credible elections in 2011," a Commission spokesman said Thursday.
Party primaries for Nigeria's presidential election will begin November 26, the Independent National Electoral Commission announced Tuesday.
A former vice president of Nigeria emerged Monday as the consensus candidate put forward by a bloc of leaders from the country's north to challenge current President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 presidential elections.
Alpha Conde said Monday in a speech to supporters at his home that his victory in last week's presidential runoff will result in "a new era" for Guinea.
Nigeria's electoral commission is seeking to postpone the presidential election until around April to give it adequate time for preparation, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Nigeria's national security adviser has resigned from his post in order to run in the 2011 presidential election, he told CNN on Sunday.
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|