KAYAWA, Nigeria — Nigerians voted for president in an election Saturday many hoped would show that Africa’s most populous nation could hold a credible poll without the violence and rigging that marred previous ones, though children cast ballots and party officials helped others press their inked fingers to paper.
Voting in the oil-rich country was largely peaceful Saturday, though a police officer was fatally shot in the volatile northeast.
The chief European Union observer said most stations opened on time and that observers saw only a few cases of missing voting materials.
But in the remote villages of northern Nigeria where opposition candidates are drawing their support, some of the voters were smooth-cheeked boys not even 5 feet tall.
Leaders at the polling station in Doge Game shouted at the children in the local Hausa language to go back into a nearby classroom until an Associated Press reporter left the scene. Nigerians must be 18 in order to cast ballots.
