Social Media Abuzz As Nigerians Elect New Leaders

Zainab Olalekan

The social media is abuzz with feeds from the 774 local governments of Nigeria, as citizens throng polling stations to elect the next set of leaders in the Presidential and National Assembly Election.

From Twitter to Facebook, Instagram to TikTok and other social media platforms, netizens are sharing the situation across their voting units.

The presidential election according to various polls is among three major contenders; Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

One of the major trends is that a Corps Member working as a Presiding Officer in today’s election, Chidinma Okorie, who is openly campaigning for the Labour Party presidential candidate to win. The development, has been condemned by social media users from far and wide, with many demanding for her arrest and prosecution.

Notable among the #NigeriaDecides trends is that of President Muhammadu Buhari, who displayed his ballot papers, shortly after voting.

The move, analysts and commentators on the social media described as unethical and a strong aberration to the secrecy of voting enshrined in Section 92 of the Electoral Act, he signed last year.

There are also reports of late arrival of electoral materials to voting stations across the country, as well as the non-functioning of the Bi-modal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).