By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Voting in Nigeria's state governors and assemblies elections, which kicked off earlier on Saturday, have come an end.
Official vote counting has already begun in all states across the country.
The polls were scheduled to come to an end at 5:00pm, but in some polling stations, voting came to an end earlier.
"We finished voting as early as 4:00pm," Sunday Esan, a PR practitioner, told AA.
"Sorting and counting have ended and we already have the result of our unit at Otedola Estate," Esan added.
Across Nigeria's northwestern region, results have started emerging from different polling units.
The process has, however, just begun with observers expressing fears that vote rigging can take place at the vote collection levels.
Votes in the governors elections are expected to be collected at various levels before a resident electoral commissioner announces the election results.
For a candidate to be declared a winning governor, this candidate has to get the highest number of valid votes from 25 percent of two thirds of local government areas in his/her state.
The number of local government areas vary from state to state. While a state like Lagos has 20 local governments, Kano in the northwest has 44.
Final results in the governorship elections are not expected before Sunday afternoon or Monday morning, depending on how fast and smooth the process goes.