LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerians voted in a delayed parliamentary election on Saturday, voicing determination to hold a credible poll in Africa’s most populous nation despite chaotic organization and violence.

At least seven more people were killed in four separate incidents in the last few hours before polling. Those deaths followed the killing of at least 10 people by a bomb at an election office late on Friday.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerians turned out for a delayed parliamentary election on Saturday, voicing determination to hold a credible vote in Africa’s most populous nation despite chaotic organisation and violence.

“We want to show the rest of the world that we are ready for democracy,” said Mukaila Odukoya, a 45-year old trader, in the Obalende district of Lagos as people clamoured to find their names on the voter register at a polling booth.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerians went out to vote under tight security on Saturday in a ballot delayed by administrative bungling and marred by a deadly bomb attack hours before polling stations opened.

The setbacks have added to questions over whether Africa’s giant, with more people than Russia, can hold its first credible elections since military rule ended 12 years ago.

LAGOS (Reuters) – A suspected bomb blast killed up to eight people at a Nigerian election office on Friday and four people, including a ruling party official, were shot dead hours before parliamentary polls.

The violence was a further blow to hopes of orderly elections in Africa’s most populous nation, holding its parliamentary election a week later than planned on Saturday because of logistical chaos.

LAGOS, April 8 (Reuters) – An explosion rocked the local
offices of Nigeria’s electoral commission in the central town of
Suleja on Friday, hours ahead of parliamentary polls, in what
one emergency official said appeared to have been a bomb blast.

Security sources said up to eight people may have been
killed and a dozen injured in the explosion in Suleja, on the
northwestern edge of the capital Abuja, but neither the election
commission nor the emergency services could confirm this.

LAGOS, April 7 (Reuters) – Nigerian authorities have
arrested scores of opposition members in the southeastern state
of Akwa Ibom in a campaign of intimidation ahead of elections,
opposition lawyers and rights activists said on Thursday.

More than 40 supporters of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN), including governorship candidate James Akpanudoedehe,
have been arrested following rioting last month between rival
party activists, Akpanudoedehe’s lawyer Frank Ekanem said.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigeria faces an uphill struggle to salvage credible elections from administrative chaos after aborting its first round of polling this weekend, but the move at least shows some determination to try to get things right.

Africa’s most populous nation had to abandon parliamentary polls on Saturday after voting materials failed to arrive in many parts of the country, sparking fury among voters who were promised a break with a history of flawed and violent polls.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerian election officials raced to get aborted polls back on track on Sunday after the absence of voter materials in large parts of Africa’s most populous nation forced parliamentary elections to be delayed.

The postponement by 48 hours of Saturday’s polls, hours after voting began in some areas, was a major embarrassment for election commissioner Attahiru Jega, who had promised a break with Nigeria’s history of chaotic and flawed elections.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerians headed to polling stations on Saturday for parliamentary elections, the first in a series of ballots that will test whether Africa’s most populous nation can break with a history of vote fraud and violence.

The electoral commission has put in place tougher measures to prevent cheating and intimidation, which raised such doubts over the last elections in 2007 that foreign observers said they may not have reflected the will of the people.

LAGOS (Reuters) – Nigerians headed to polling stations on Saturday for parliamentary elections, the first in a series of ballots that will test whether Africa’s most populous nation can break with a history of vote fraud and violence.

Ballot stuffing, intimidation and thuggery were so widespread in the last nationwide elections in 2007 that foreign observers questioned whether they reflected the will of the people, saying they fell far below international standards.