Hope, fear as Nigerians await results of presidential vote

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(AP Photo). Security forces hold back protesters against the recent election in Port Harcourt , Nigeria, Sunday, March 29, 2015. Voting in Nigeria's elections continued in certain areas on Sunday after technical problems prevented some people from cast...

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis). Members of the congregation raise their hands in celebration and prayer during a sermon at the Banner of Life bible church in the mainly Christian Sabon Gari neighborhood of Kano, northern Nigeria on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015. ...

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis). A three-wheeled "tuk-tuk" passenger taxi passes by as a police truck with water cannons stands guard outside the election commission offices in Kano, northern Nigeria on Palm Sunday, March 29, 2015. Many Christians left the town ...

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis). Two women walk down a deserted street with roadblocks at the end leading to the St Charles Catholic Church, scene of a 2014 bomb attack blamed on Boko Haram Islamic insurgents, in the mainly Christian Sabon Gari neighborhood of K...

(AP Photo/Ben Curtis). Two youths ride bicycles past a mural on a school wall and election posters supporting President Goodluck Jonathan, on a street in Kano, Nigeria Sunday, March 29, 2015. Voting in Nigeria's elections continued in certain areas on ...

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By MICHELLE FAUL and HILARY UGURU

Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Nigerians are waiting in hope and fear for results of the tightest and most bitterly contested presidential election in the nation's turbulent history. Collation of results starts at noon (1100 GMT) and winner could be named later Monday or Tuesday, electoral officials say.

One radio station played the song written by entertainment star 2Face Idibia in Nigeria's colloquial English: "Vote not fight; Election no be war!"

In relative peace, millions voted on Saturday and tens of thousands Sunday despite technical glitches, deadly attacks on northeastern polling stations by Islamic extremists and political thuggery in the south.

Police fired tear gas Monday morning in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil capital, at thousands of women supporters of the opposition coalition demanding the cancellation of the election in Rivers State.

The opposition coalition is demanding new elections in the oil-rich southern states of Rivers and Akwa Ibom, alleging irregularities including missing and false results sheets and electoral officials being replaced by government officials loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan. The Independent National Electoral Commission says it is investigating numerous complaints.

The big fear is that violence may erupt once results are announced in the high-stakes contest to govern Africa's most populous and richest nation. The election has come down to a race analysts say is too close to call between Jonathan and former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari.

More than 1,000 people died and some 65,000 were forced from their homes in northern riots after Buhari lost to Jonathan in 2011, according to the National Human Rights Commission.

___

Uguru reported from Port Harcourt.

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