1st LD Writethru-Roundup: Huge turnout of electorate as voting begins in Nigeria presidential election

Voting in Nigeria's presidential election commenced Saturday afternoon with a huge turnout of voters exercising their franchise in the West African country.

Polling stations across Nigeria opened on Saturday amid tight security, as more than 56 million eligible voters went to cast their ballots to elect a new president, Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission said.

Registration started at 8:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and voting began at 1:30 p.m. local time (1230 GMT).

Fourteen candidates are competing in the presidential election, but it is most likely to be a tight race between incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan, from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, and opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari, who is a former military leader.

The two contested in the 2011 general elections. In this year's election, a neck-and-neck race is expected as both possess matchable popularity.

There were heavy presence of security operatives in most polling stations in Abuja, the Nigerian capital city.

Similar security measures were in place across Nigeria, especially in the northern part of the country, which has been jolted by security fears due to the turmoil caused by radical Boko Haram militants.

Nigeria delayed the general election in February by six weeks to allow government troops to recapture all the communities seized by radical Boko Haram militants since last year.

The Islamist terrorist group has killed more than 10,000 people in northeast Nigeria since 2009.

The tight security nationwide not only aims to handle potential Boko Haram attacks, but also to control election-related violence, which had seen some 1,000 people killed in 2011.

Voting were still going on in all parts of the country as of the time of filing this report.

The election is adjudged the toughest since the West African country reverted to democracy 16 years ago.

In Lagos, voters queued up in the scorching sun, taking turns to cast their votes at the polling unit.

There were up to three queues, one of which was dedicated to the elderly, pregnant women, and people living with disabilities who were being given priority.

Speaking to Xinhua in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, Okechukwu Orijekwe, a businessman, said the exercise had been well organized.

Orijekwe, who said he had been voting for quite some time, added that there were measures to checkmate electoral fraud, unlike before.

On his part, Gift Ehnone, a 50-year-old woman, said her area (Surulere) has been very peaceful, noting that the peaceful atmosphere during Saturday's polls in the area was commendable. Endi