Voters reacts as their celebration ballots are counted at a polling station in Lagos, on February 25, 2023, throughout Nigeria’s presidential and common election.

JOHN WESSELS/AFP by way of Getty Images

cover caption

toggle caption

JOHN WESSELS/AFP by way of Getty Images

Voters reacts as their celebration ballots are counted at a polling station in Lagos, on February 25, 2023, throughout Nigeria’s presidential and common election.

JOHN WESSELS/AFP by way of Getty Images

LAGOS, Nigeria -Voting passed off throughout Nigeria on Saturday, to determine one of the vital aggressive and unpredictable polls in years. It will take a variety of days till the ultimate resutls are identified. As at all times, the election introduced atypical life to an eerie standstill.

In Lagos, its most populous metropolis, normally busy or gridlocked business streets emptied right into a cyclers paradise. Soccer video games crammed in any other case empty roads. Bus stops, the entrance of eating places, pharmacies and colleges, have been transformed to polling items and contours winding around the block within the warmth.

Youth play soccer on the streets earlier than going to the polling unit at Ojuelegba in Lagos on February 25, 2023, throughout Nigeria’s presidential and common election.

BENSON IBEABUCHI/AFP by way of Getty Images

cover caption

toggle caption

BENSON IBEABUCHI/AFP by way of Getty Images

Youth play soccer on the streets earlier than going to the polling unit at Ojuelegba in Lagos on February 25, 2023, throughout Nigeria’s presidential and common election.

BENSON IBEABUCHI/AFP by way of Getty Images

Elections are at all times main occasions, however many citizens mentioned this one had a urgent sense of urgency. The final eight years has seen widespread financial distress and a rising sense of vulnerability. Threats from armed teams have developed from being remoted in regional pockets to being felt throughout a lot of the nation.

Many voters mentioned this election was an opportunity to set the nation on a greater course. Many each younger and previous mentioned they have been voting for the primary time.

While voting went easily in lots of areas, in others it was riddled with challenges and threat. Voters at a polling station in Surulere, a district in Lagos, queued for as much as 7 hours earlier than they casted their ballots. Electoral fee employees arrived late, and voter verification system confronted technical failures. Some went house in frustration. Others complained bitterly however waited, decided to vote. But after they did, aid quickly gave method to worry as masked gunmen all of a sudden arrived, firing, and snatching the poll field away.

After the gunmen left, many searched the bottom for his or her belongings, now plagued by poll sheets, telephones, slippers, then shortly went house. But some waited to see if voting would restart once more.

Tom Saater contributed to this story