At exactly 3.09,President Goodluck Jonathan and wife, Dame Patience, voted at his polling unit in Otuoke, Bayelsa state. After casting his vote he spoke with reporters.
Read excerpts below: Jonathan casting his vote
What is your impression of the process?
I want to congratulate Nigerians for coming out en masse to exercise their right to vote. But I want to sympathise with theIndependent National Electoral Commission(INEC), for the Smart Card Readers across the country that malfunctioned.
I want to urge Nigerians to continue to be patient and that they should bear with the commission.In fact, because of the card readers that malfunctioned, the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, expressed anxiety and anger and he was boiling because of what INEC had done.
I had to calm him down. Even the governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, also called me to express his disappointment and anger because of the failure of the Card Readers. I also had to calm him down too.
Do you have hope that all will be well at the end of the day?
I am hopeful that the elections would be successful, free and fair. I want to plead with Nigerians to exercise some patience even though some people are said to have waited more than necessary at the polls.
Do you have information as to what went wrong?
Yes, I have some information regarding some of the activities of INEC but it is only Professor Attahiru Jega, the National Chairman of INEC, alone that can speak for INEC. It is their duty. I can’t speak for INEC. Jega will speak for INEC just as I can speak for the Federal Government.
There were stories of violence and a bomb blast in Enugu State?
There was no bomb blast. The information I got was that somebody saw something that he suspected looked like an Improvised Explosive Device, IED. I think the object was inspected and it was discovered that it was not a bomb. I spoke with the governor of Enugu State this morning and he confirmed that there was no bomb blast.
On the other incident, you know that the war on the terrorists is on-going as we want to take over Sambisa Forest. I was informed that some of these terrorists were on the run and they ran into the military and they were stopped.
What outcome are you expecting?
I am very hopeful.