At the heart of Nigeria's hopes for the fairest election in its history Saturday is a handheld biometric device designed to stop rigging. But as Ahmed Bashir placed his thumb on the reader Saturday morning, nothing happened.
He put his thumb on again. Nothing. And again. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) official shook his head in wonder. The electronic reader was supposed to take just 10 seconds to accept a voter's print.
It took more than five minutes, and dozens of efforts before the reader finally accepted Bashir's thumbprint. Then the next voter stepped forward, and the same thing happened, as the crush of voters around the official grew increasingly restive.
"I don't think it's working, because the next person is having the same problem," said Bashir, 22, a student.
It's the first time Nigeria has used the electronic system. The biometric readers are used to accredit voters in a process that was supposed to begin at 8 a.m. before actual voting.
Nearly 69 million Nigerians were registered to vote in an election that the electoral commission promised would be the fairest in the nation's history, despite threats from terror group Boko Haram to launch attacks and disrupt the polling.
With polls indicating the presidential race is too close to call, and President Goodluck Jonathan, 57, facing a strong challenge from 72-year-old former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, it's the first genuine election contest since the end of military rule in 1999. If Buhari wins and takes power, it would be the nation's first democratic transfer of power and a landmark for the continent.
But INEC officials arrived late and the thumbprint accreditation process started 90 minutes late in some polling stations. The biometric reader matches a voter's thumbprint with permanent voter cards (PVCs) issued to prevent duplicate voting.
Bashir said the problems in reading thumbprints "will delay things and make things messy, because voter accreditation is supposed to end by 1. It's now a quarter to 10 and only one person has been accredited. It may provoke people and make them think it's intended to sabotage the whole process."
This oil-rich West African nation of 170 million has a history of election violence, vote buying, ballot box theft and rigged elections. Voters are eager for change after decades of poor governance, corruption and shoddy infrastructure, with a February opinion poll indicating that three-quarters of the population believe the government is heading in the wrong direction.
In Otuoke in southern Bayelsa state, President Jonathan had the same problem, as the biometric reader malfunctioned, AFP news agency reported, forcing him to give up and return later.
"Maybe it's me?" the president joked, standing in the hot sun waiting for the reader to work. "If I can endure, you see my sweat? I plead with all Nigerians to be patient, no matter the pains we take. It's the first time we are using this technology, PVCs, card readers."
Jonathan was finally accredited to vote after three biometric readers failed.
Although the biometric card readers worked smoothly at some polling stations, there were widespread reports of difficulties.
In some polling stations, INEC officials arrived 2-1/2 hours late.
In a further embarrassment, the independent electoral commission website was hacked Saturday morning by a group that called itself the Nigerian Cyber Army. The commission announced it would investigate the incident.
"Sorry xD Your Site has been STAMPED by TeM Nigerian Cyber Army FEEL SOME SHAME ADMIN!! Security is just an illusion," a statement on the website read.
A car bomb blast hit a polling station in Enugu state in southern Nigeria early Saturday, according to Nigerian police, but there was no loss of life.
Local media reported that an official from the governing People's Democratic Party, Yomi Ademola, who recently defected to the opposition All Progressives Congress, was shot dead in his home in Osun state by gunmen early Saturday.
There were also reports that thugs hijacked INEC staff and voting materials being delivered to three wards in southern Rivers State in the Niger Delta, a region that in the past has seen blatant election fraud.
Two people were killed when gunmen believed to be from Boko Haram attacked polling stations in two northeastern villages in Gombe state, AFP reported. The gunmen were heard shouting, "Didn't we warn you about staying away from the election?" according to the report.
Bashir, the Kano student, said the INEC official trying to use the thumbprint reader admitted that he never received practical training in using the reader.
One voter in central Kano, schoolteacher Mohammad Awwal Jibril, 50, flew into a rage over the delays.
"This is our right," he shouted. "We are ready to die for this! No one will stop us! We have come out in our total to vote. We are ready to die for our right!"
Schoolteacher Mohammad Ado, 49, said the process was going so slowly that people were afraid they would miss their chance to vote.
"I have that fear. They have given the hours for this election. They said they will finish by 5. Look at the queue," he said, indicating the crush of voters around the election official, straggling into a long line along the dusty street. "They have not even taken 1% of the people. Tempers are rising, because the thing is going too slowly."
President Jonathan has been criticized for his failure to tackle corruption, to grapple decisively with Boko Haram and to rescue nearly 300 schoolgirls Boko Haram kidnapped last year.
Despite the threat of attacks from Boko Haram, there was no sign of security at most polling stations in the northern city of Kano, which has seen many bomb attacks in recent years.
"Of course I'm afraid. Anyone could do anything here, detonate bombs or anything, because there's no one to stop them," said Musa Ismaila, 65, a builder, waiting at a polling station in the Jar Kasa neighborhood in central Kano. "But it's a risk worth taking because we need to vote in good leaders."
Hassan Umar Adamu, 31, a firefighter in Kano's Sheshe neighborhood, said that with the governing People's Democratic Party facing a strong opposition for the first time in its 16-year reign since the end of military rule in 1999, Nigerians had hope.
"This is the first chance we have to make real change," said Adamu. "Even the ruling party has admitted that they have never had a strong opposition."
Adamu said Nigerians were fed up with poor governance and he planned to vote for the main opposition candidate, Buhari.
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