The long-awaited presidential and National Assembly elections finally took place on Saturday, signalling a crucial departure from the string of postponements that characterised the last three general elections.
Moreover, reports of early arrivals by ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) drew accolades.
The commission’s apparent desire to meet expectations was matched by the palpable enthusiasm among voters across the country who showed up en masse to perform their civic duty. Voting, sorting and counting even continued into the dead of night at several polling units – several hours after the 2:30 pm limit for voters to present themselves for the exercise.
Despite these significant wins for Nigeria’s democracy, the electoral process at a number of polling stations was beleaguered by what some considered to be false starts
