In Nigeria, the 2023 gubernatorial elections were on Saturday held in 31 states out of Nigerian 36 sub-national units called states. The election included choosing legislatures for the state assembly.

There were reports of low voter turnout nationwide and high levels of voter impression and intimidation in the opposition stronghold. Our correspondent who covered polling units in Alimosho Local Government, Nigeria’s largest local government in the country’s commercial capital, Lagos, observed clusters of non-state actors in branded jackets tagged “TEAM LAGOS SECURITY” walking around voting centres with chants of intimidation and threats of violence.

The ruling APC’s incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who has been in the Lagos state government for the past two decades, faced a strong challenge from Labour Party’s Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, an architecture and political activist.

A citizen journalist, Gbenga Faith who attempted to take pictures of the threatening mob was harassed and had his phone seized and forcefully made to delete the pictures.

There are also various videos online of thugs moving around while in some cases voters gearing up to restrain potential attackers.

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The incidences of disruption led to the postponement of elections at some polling centres like the VGC polling unit in Lekki, an eyebrow area in Eti-Osa local government in Lagos.

Meanwhile, officials of the electoral commission, INEC have begun counting elections amid reports of scattered violence and voter intimidation. No official results have been announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC).

Recall that INEC postponed the governorship and state legislature elections which were initially scheduled to hold on March 11 by one week. Beyond Lagos, in Imo state, southeastern Nigeria, INEC said violence occurred such that security forces rescued 19 electoral officials who had been abducted by thugs, but election materials were lost.

The commission in a statement noted, “while the commission remains grateful to the security operatives, it condemns such acts of thuggery, intimidation, and disenfranchisement of voters.”

There is a new political wave traceable to the presidential candidacy of dark-horse, Peter Obi of the Labour Party who appears anti-establishment and an appealing candidate to the demography of young voters. Obi came third at the national polls in the February 25th elections but his popularity has influenced victories for less popular candidates of the Labour Party at different levels across the country.

Meanwhile, regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States in a statement expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the elections.

“The ECOWAS Election Observation Mission has been monitoring the process, which has been peaceful generally with all the stakeholders present (INEC officials, party agents, and voters) expressing satisfaction at the process,” the statement reads in part.