Abuja - Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will begin the final collation of votes cast across the West African country, 48 hours after the presidential and national assembly elections were held.
"You start counting 48 hours when a substantial amount of polling units have concluded elections," electoral chief Attahiru Jega told a media conference at the national collation centre in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Sunday.
The official said as at the time of the media conference, no resident electoral commissioner deployed in the states across Africa's most populous nation had arrived at the national collation centre for the final collation to commence.
"We will declare results when they have been collated from the states," he added, noting that tensions were generally high as election results were being delayed.
Commenting on how the election fared, the electoral body said it was pleased the exercise went on smoothly across the country, including the north eastern region, particularly in the states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the three provinces most badly affected by attacks by the Boko Haram Islamist militants in recent years.
Voting in Nigeria's presidential and national congress elections continued amid tight security on Sunday, as polling centres opened early to verify identities of voters.
The elections were extended by the electoral body because of card reader glitches which almost marred the elections in many parts of the country on Saturday.
Water-tight security was reported at all the polling centres which opened to normalize the situation on Sunday.
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended Nigeria's "largely peaceful" presidential and parliamentary elections and their "orderly conduct".
"The Secretary-General encourages all Nigerians to continue to maintain a peaceful atmosphere and to exercise patience throughout the ongoing voting process and the announcement of the final results," he said on Sunday.
The UN chief also condemned the attacks reportedly carried out by militants of the Boko Haram Islamist and others who have attempted to disrupt the polling, saying he is encouraged by the determination and resilience shown by the Nigerian people in pressing forward and exercising their civic duties despite violence.
Early on Saturday, at least 25 people were killed in an attack suspected to be a perpetration of Boko Haram on a community in the north eastern state of Borno.
Adjudged Nigeria's toughest presidential election in 16 years is the fifth quadrennial election to be held since the end of military rule in 1999.
Nearly 60 million people who have the permanent voter cards might have participated in the election. – SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua
