Voters take to polls in continent’s biggest democracy but historic day marred by Boko Haram attacks, killing 14 in north-east, and faulty voting technology

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for democracy in Africa on Saturday as Nigerians resolutely cast their votes amid shootings by Islamist militants and widespread technical glitches.

The long-awaited election in the continent’s biggest democracy, with 60 million potential voters, did not descend into the chaos or violence that the doomsayers had predicted, but it was hardly plain sailing. From the moment that President Goodluck Jonathan himself was rejected by a malfunctioning voter registration machine there were glitches until, by late afternoon, beleaguered officials had been forced to announce that polling in some areas would spill over into a second day.

Few would dare predict the result. Jonathan, 57, faces an unprecedented challenge from 72-year-old Muhammadu Buhari in the most fiercely contested election in Nigeria’s history. The president has been criticised for failing to get to grips with security or the economy, while Buhari once ruled as a military dictator – a contest that has prompted analysts to refer to a choice between one leader who is too weak and another who is too strong.

In the embattled north-east, the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram carried out its threat to disrupt polling day. Fourteen were killed, including an opposition politician, in three separate raids on polling stations.

“We could hear the gunmen shouting: ‘Didn’t we warn you about staying away from [the] election?’” one official told Agence France-Presse after three died in Gombe state. “They set fire to all the election materials we abandoned as we escaped.”

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in the past six years, but has recently suffered setbacks against the Nigerian military and regional allies. Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, warned in a video message last month: “This election will not be held even if we are dead. Even if we are not alive, Allah will not allow you to do it.”

But many voters in Boko Haram’s heartland defied the threat. Volunteers swept voters with handheld metal detectors in Maiduguri as a precaution after a string of suicide attacks in recent weeks.

At a school in Yola, Abbas Mohammed, a university lecturer, cast his vote in one of the centres set up especially for the 1.5 million people displaced by the violence. “If we don’t vote, it will be as if Boko Haram has battered us twice,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People displaced by Islamist militants display their voting cards in Yola, Nigeria. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

Not everyone was so lucky. In Maiduguri, Ahmadu Haruna has drifted among friends’ homes after a vicious attack in January drove him from his hometown.

“When I left I didn’t take anything but the clothes that are on my back. I was running for my life, so I didn’t even think about my [voting] papers,” he said from the home of a local vigilante group who fight back against Boko Haram.

His village was later razed and he felt too traumatised to return, he said. After battling bureaucracy for a few weeks in the state capital, he gave up on the idea of getting a voters’ card. “I am feeling very bitter today because it is as if I don’t even have the basic right of every citizen,” he said.

Security was tight nationwide as fears ran high of a repeat of poll-related violence in 2011, in which 800 people were killed. Streets normally choked with traffic were virtually deserted because of an eight-hour ban on vehicle movements, and shops were shuttered.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An electoral officer scans the thumb of a voter using a biometric system at a polling station in Lagos. Photograph: Emmanuel Arewa/AFP/Getty Images

But the election got off to an embarrassing start when national television showed the president, in his trademark black fedora, standing patiently in a tented polling booth for 20 minutes in his home village. “Maybe it’s me?” he joked. “If I can endure, you see my sweat? I plead with all Nigerians to be patient, no matter the pains we take.”

After trying at least three card readers, Jonathan and wife went home and later returned to be accredited using the old manual system. They voted just after 3pm. Jonathan said he felt confident the poll would be deemed “credible and accepted by international observers”.

He added: “There have been some issues with card readers, but persevere ... I believe at the end of the day we will all be happy ... I believe all Nigerians who want to vote will definitely vote, and that is good news.”

Jonathan was far from alone in suffering glitches from the handheld technology, which is being used for the first time to read biometric permanent voter cards (PVCs) but caused delays at the country’s 120,000 polling stations.

In Ikoyi in Lagos, 91-year-old Christopher Ogunbanjo, a retired barrister and great-grandfather, cut a forlorn figure as he put his finger on the card reader over and over again without success. A white cloth was produced to methodically wipe his fingers and the machine scanner, but in vain.

“I didn’t bring my own tissue,” said Ogunbanjo, who qualified in 1950 and practised law in London for years. “I have a tissue that I use. I have always voted. This is bringing a little bit of a problem and I might have to give up. But we’re talking about one vote in how many millions of people, so it doesn’t really matter. It will be all right.”

Tony Elumelu, a billionaire businessman, was queuing at the same polling station alongside market traders, taxi drivers and the unemployed. “Nigerians are exercising their voting rights,” he said. “They are defying the sun and heat to vote. We can’t complain if we’re not involved.”

Buhari, the first opposition candidate with a realistic chance of defeating a sitting Nigerian president, was accredited without a hitch using the card reader in his hometown of Daura, in northern Katsina state.

Wearing a white robe topped with a traditional Muslim cap, he told journalists: “I like the integrity of the system … If people are allowed to vote then rigging will be virtually impossible under the system.”

In many areas, the late arrival of officials and materials delayed the accreditation process in the morning ahead of the start of voting proper from 1.30pm. Some Nigerian commentators were already discussing the possibility of extending voting until Sunday.

Meanwhile a group calling itself the Nigerian Cyber Army hacked into and shut down the electoral commission’s website on Saturday, warning officials not to rig the election.

“Strucked by Nigerian Cyber Army [sic],” read the banner at the top of the page, and underneath: “Security is just an illusion.” The commission said in a tweet that it was aware of the hack and investigating.

But on a defining day for the nation, others were content they were witnessing democracy in action. “Beautiful,” said Frank Chidi, 72, who at 1.52pm became the first person to vote at a polling station in Surulere, Lagos, at the head of a more or less orderly queue. “I love it. I’m happy that I’m doing my civic duty. There were no problems at all. If it goes like this everywhere, the country will be fine.”

Standing near a pile of rubbish on the street corner, voter Sonnie Ekwowusi, said proudly: “It’s a historic thing. This is the first election since independence where you have keen contestation and equally matched contestants. The voters are enlightened and know who they want. I think we are making progress. We have learned a lot of democratic lessons and we are putting them into practice now.”

The Muslim-majority north is generally seen as a stronghold of Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC), while Jonathan and the People’s Democratic party are viewed as having larger support in the mainly Christian south.

Both leaders have signed a peace pledge, but there are fears of a backlash from the losing side. Damian Ugwu, a human rights researcher, said: “I’m really concerned about the prospects of the election degenerating into violence. The signs are all there: the hate speech, the inciteful statements to supporters, a lot of arms in circulation.

“I’ve not seen a committed effort by the parties to encourage peace. They have made some statements, but the body language doesn’t point to it. Everything is pointing towards violence.”