jonathan goodluck main opponent is bare muhammadu buhari, a retired general that ruled. he ran for president in 2003, 2006 and "11. he's a muslim fulani coming from katsima state >>> nigeria's ministry pushed them out of the state. the army announced a success in borno state on the eve of election day. from the capital we have this report. >> reporter: the nigerian ministry said it has captured a boko haram state. in a rare address a military spokesperson gave the statement. terrorists died. many have been captured in the process. >> the home of the terrorists have been destroyed. >> reporter: it can't be verified. restrictions have been pleased on the society and the media and accessing the north-east. al jazeera journalists have been confined to the hotel since tuesday. the army accused them of operating without accreditation, and they'll be held without further notice. both were embedded with the military. the al jazeera news crew has been prominent in reporting events in the north-east of the country, and has been one of the few, if not only sources of information fr

the incumbent leader jonathan goodluck is facing a strong challenge. jonathan goodluck is running for his second full-term as nigeria's president. and serving as vice president in 2010. he came to power that year after the death of the president. a year later the presidential election was won. he's a christian from the group in the oil rich niger delta region. and his presidency has been compromised by attacks in the north. they killed hundreds of thousands in the north. from the all-progresses congress party, a retired major general muhammadu buhari is the main contender, running in 2003, 2007, 2011, but lost each time. he's a muslim from the fall arny ethnic group. last july he narrowly escaped a boko haram assist nation attempt. nigeria says it's pushed boko haram out of space in the north. the army announced its success in borneo state on the eve of the election day. >> the nigerian ministry says it cap gurd the boko haram stronghold of gwoza. we have no which of knowing. a nigerian spokesperson gave this statement. >> several terrorists died. many

nigeria's president jonathan goodluck sat with al jazeera for an exclusive interview.promised voters he'll defeat boko haram, and defended his actions in combatting the armed group. jonathan goodluck expressed concerns over the upcoming elections which were postponed because of threats of violence. >> it is sunday night, and time for a look at the week ahead. israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu arrived in washington and is due to address a joint meeting of congress on tuesday, amid diplomatic tensions between the u.s. and israel. secretary of state john kerry criticised this past week binyamin netanyahu's judgment on the nuclear talks. mike viqueira has more from washington. >> reporter: with binyamin netanyahu's speech to congress days away more bad blood and acrimony in a tense relationship. in an information interview, national security advisor susan rice put it bluntly. >> what happened over the past several weeks, by virtue of the invitation issued. by the speaker and acceptance of it by binyamin netanyahu, is on both seeds there has been injected a degree o

it's not a mishandling: president jonathan goodluck is standing for re-election. the vote was postponed for six weeks because of violence in the north-east where boko haram has been active. we ask whether the election date could be moved again. i don't think so. i believe they have been conducted, as national elections. 28 of this month. i don't see why we should postpone again. i'm embarrassed with the successors. i will win the election. >> if you don't. if you don't win the election will you bow out gracefully. >> by default. if somebody wins the election of course. i'll go my village. i want to top. >> there are fears of election-related violence more than 800 were killed. i'm not happy. it's primitive. it's unexpected and we are doing everything to reduce it. we need to recalibrate our security architecture. to handle the elections. otherwise it will go into unnecessary crisis. nobody's ambitious. the president or governor or whatever no one's ambition is worth that. >> reporter: many nigerians say all they want is a fair and peaceful vote and an end to the b

goodluck jonathan: to make sure we run them out of nigeria. we will not allow them to stay in the country. claire: despite his critics divides in nigeria have meant goodluck jonathan draws support from many christians, particularly in the southern states. laura: corruption, and widespread poverty are some of the main challenges facing the next president. reporter: its own worst enemy the greatest battle lies within its borders. boko haram reached its deadliest height last year, killing 10,000 people according to the council on foreign relations. this year the tally has already tipped 2000. in a sign its ambitions have blown beyond instituting sharia law, they have pledged allegiance to the islamic state. and why the military has rolled them back from urban centers, it has failed at subduing the threat. >> the weekend, they continue to commit horrendous acts against civilians, including women and children. we have received reports that children in particular have been neglected, abused, recruited maimed and killed. schools are no longer safe pla

an exclusive interview with jonathan goodluck. >> our top story, protests are out in europe after the death of opposition leader boris nemtsov. the former prime minister planned an anti-government rally for today in moscow. killed by a gunman by a passing car. tens of thousands turned out more a march in memorial of boris nemtsov. in london supporters laid flowers outside the russian embassy. protesters held the ukranian flag and signs. the widow was in the crowd. boris nemtsov accused vladimir putin of ordering an assassination -- another accused vladimir putin of ordering his death before dying of radiation poisoning. >> translation: there's no independent court in russia we demand an independent trial into boris nemtsov's death. >>> freed am of association says investigations should be pope for killings of other opponents of vladimir putin including journalists. we have more on reaction to boris nemtsov's death. >> reporter: boris nemtsov hoped the rally on sunday would be a re-energizing of russia's dispirited opposition movement. the crowd was vast. bigger than a march for years.

it is making people take a hard look at goodluck jonathan's record. yes, he is running against a former military dictator, a strong man, who has tried four times himself or the presidency, so some people say it comes down to a choice between a weak leader and a former military dictator, you choose but the fact that these two men are running so closely says a lot about nigeria's strides in electoral -- democratic electoral politics. genie: doug, stay with us. we're going to go to nicola. reporter: basically what happened is the polling agents from different parties are a lot to ask questions to the electoral commission as they announce the results, and here the representative of goodluck jonathan's party, he took the microphone for 10 minutes and when i let it go, and he was shouting and ranting on nigerian television and what he said as he did not recognize the head of the electoral commission, so the pet, goodluck jonathan's party saying they do not recognize the commission. this is a big starting point in the what analysts are saying is that they fe

jonathan goodluck denies mishandling the campaign against the fighters who killed thousands in their campaign to eradicate western influence. the president fears more attacks in the run up to the presidential election at the end of the month and gave an ecluesive interview to our correspondent. >> reporter: with less than four weeks to go before the election president jonathan goodluck promised voters he'll defeat boko haram. >> we must end it. first we must take over all the territories, when we take over the territories they are holding they are weaker. then we improve monitoring superior technology to monitor activities, and we'll pick them and, of course frustrate the activities, over the two-thirds it will go. the president denies accusations the government handles the boko haram crisis. >> president jonathan goodluck stands for re-election. the vote was suppose boned for six weeks -- postponed for violence. we asked whether the election date could be moved again. >> i don't think so. i believe they have conducted national elections. i don't see why we should postpone again. i'm

of course, jonathan goodluck the president. how far is he likely to benefit from an improved landscape when people go to the polls next saturday. >> the information we are getting from military sources, if it's correct, there has been a massive turn around. the recapture of towns under boko haram. >> it has to be said. this does look good for president jonathan goodluck. we might have called that it took place. the military said he's the commander in chief. they tried to quell the crisis. now the precedent speak to him. talking about taking four weeks. he gave another interview to a broad caster. within two weeks the crisis - they would pretty much be sold. >> it looks good for him. the opposition says it's politically motivated. the reasons it's been a step up is because the president has been worried about losing the election. it's too little too late. more than a million has been displaced. 13,000 killed. and boko haram has been executing the campaign of terror in the north-east. >> thank you for now yvonne ndege. she will b

president goodluck jonathan and his rival modelu bohari promised strong governments. yvonne ndege has the story. >> whether goodluck jonathan was elected in 2011 nigerians were rejoiced. they were proud that someone from a poor background could rise to the highest post. four years later people are divided about his performance and whether he should be given another four years. >> a portion of nigerian territory was taken over. we've seen thousands of nigerian being massacred. >> reclaimed in the last four weeks. there's been a decline in the number of attacks and the president's supporters says he has tackled the number one issue for nigerians corruption. >> fertilizer sales and so on so forth, the way fertilizer was pro occurred itprocured. that was a major cesspool of corruption. the same as oil subsidies so on, so forth. he has introduced reforms that have not allowed people to have access to cash and steal money. >> under jonathan, nigeria has become africa's biggest economy. created more than 1 million jobs. but according to the office of national statistics pover

during the signing we saw jonathan goodluck sitting next to the main opposition leader. it was a friendly relaxed firpt, the senior muslim leader. and they signed the accord reminding nigerians that this was an important election strengthening nigeria's democracy, and they must refrain from violence they must desist from insightful behaviour or language to allow free fair and credible elections to take place. >>> now, oil is one of the major issues in the election. the niger delta is where almost all of nigeria's oil comes from and it provides three-quarters of government revenue. the niger delta region is one of the poorest. >> reporter: they know what they are doing is illegal, they don't care. young, unemployment men steal crude oil from pipelines and refine it in the creek of niger delta, saying that the resource belongs to the community, not the government or the oil company. >> where you have something, someone is eating it who owns it, you be angry. looks at out to get part of it. >> reporter: the men claim to produce 60,000 litres from an inprovised refinery. loo

. >> yes, this is a high stakes gamble and jonathan goodluck wants the decisive delivery, elections,s you say, to have the end of boko haram delivered before the elections on 28 march. that's important. chad needs to get it over and done with. chad is having economic problems. the drop in the oil price means that chad is running out of cash. they need a delivery. whether it end up that chad hands jonathan goodluck his election victory on a plate, because they defeat the islamists on behalf of him remains to be seen and whether the nigerian people believe that it was nigeria or chad that defeated boko haram, or if boko haram was defeated it's a lot to be divided. >> thank you for your insights. thank you for joining us. >>> israel's prime minister binyamin netanyahu has released a statement that appears to rule out the possibility of a 2-state solution with the palestinians. in a statement released by binyamin netanyahu's likud party he says that israel will not concede territory for the creation of any palestinian state due to the counter climate in the middle east. he has been seeki

the ruling party led by goodluck jonathan has been in charge of this country for 16 long years since the end of military rule and the word change has been floated almost everywhere you go. does that represent a real change? some would say no in many ways because a lot of the most senior officials within the opposition were once part of the ruling party. they were all members of the people's democratic party. they fell out with president jonathan and joined the opposition so some people are saying well, is this really going to be a change if muhammadu buhari wins? or willing the same problems affect and bedevil nigerians? so it's too early to say really where this situation is going to head and whenever whoever wins this election will be able to achieve democracy given fact that all the candidates in this race and the two key candidates do have a lot of common politically speaking. >> fascinating stuff. yvonne ndege in abuja thanks. >>> it's been nearly a week since the nigerian military are detained two al jazeera journalists. being held in maiduguri. al jazeera is demanding their re

president goodluck jonathan was there, it's his main rival muhammadu buhari refusing to take part. ent out on a most watched channel. ait, african independent channel. and muhammadu buhari's party accused it of partisanship being in goodluck jonathan's corner so boycotted the debate. the election was postponed ostensibly to secure the north-east from boko haram and guarantee the voters there. that rational has been subject to debate. they have found they are trying to get around censorship and security and corruption and the dangers in covering the boko haram angle. in the run up to voting day there has been a backlog of visas, one that goodluck jonathan - as far as they are concerned, the fewer journalist there, the better. our starting window this week is abuja, africa's most capitalous country. five voices on the coverage of election, a spokesman for goodluck jonathan's party, his opposite number the communications director for the muhammadu buhari campaign and the acp. journalists turned author who worked for muhammadu buhari. journalists with a nigerian news outlet based in new

>> what has changed this time is goodluck jonathan. he lost the last three elections, but the whole opposition decided to come together under buhari, and that's the game changer. >> it's not so much that he won but that goodluck jonathan lost. >> that's right. >> but everyone talked about how close the race was between the two men but i think there are two million votes difference. 2006 that's quite a sizable difference. why do you think they have it wrong? >> well, it was not very strategic. 69million people registered to vote. and we know that 60 million people did not register to vote at all. they were targeting both those who had registered to vote and those who did not register to vote. is that was very misleading. that why they could not figure out what the number was going to be. >> the president elect has got quite a lot on his plate. how do you think nigeria will change under buhari. >> he's very encouragible. we believe he's going to use his skill to deal with security, corruption, and the economy. if he sticks with that he's

anchor: q1 50.4 million votes, 2 million more than goodluck jonathan. the first, this report. reporter: he first ruled nigeria as a military dig tater. he now calls himself a convert to democracy. he had been locked in the tight race for the presidency against incumbent goodluck jonathan. this will be the first am a credit change of power in the history of nigeria. jonathan's five years in office have been marked by corruption scandals. the country is facing a book of herat insurgency in the northeast. in the opposition stronghold many say no matter what the outcome, they are happy the election has been peaceful. >> we are happy. and for the first time, some competition. >> people in northern nigeria spilled onto the streets to celebrate their country's historic election. anchor: our correspondent has been following the selection and joins us from the nigerian capital. it seems goodluck jonathan has been defeated. the first time this is happened to a sitting president in nigeria. >> it is the first time this is happening in the history of nigeria so it is very significant. you

that's the party that lost the election president goodluck jonathan. and there is a lot that needs to be repaired. we spoke to people who are incredibly excited about this new change, and obviously president elect buhari will have to talk about the changes that people want to see. >> one of the remarkable things about this result is that it has been a democratic handover of power. what reaction was there to the result of the victory of buhari and how the election went. what reaction has there been to it? >> barbara, that's right. the political significance of this event cannot be understated kins the end of military rule 16 years ago the country has been ruled by one party. many people doubted whether you could have a peaceful exchange of power. many said that it could not happen. many said that there would be tension and many said that there would be violence. many talked about civil war breaking out if this was not seen peacefully, if this election was not free, fair, and transparent. the reaction we're getting are people excited telling the presiden

the government and president jonathan goodluck have been criticized for failing to recover the girls. jonathan goodluck has been slammed for comment made about the girls, condemned as tasteless tasteless. >> absolutely. the initial stage was a sense of denial from the government that the chibok girls have been kidnapped. gradually the raid on the government came to realise that these girls had been taken, and then there was an international effort to try to rescue the girls. no one knows what happened whether the collision disbanded and it's been nearly a year after the girls had been kidnapped. 219 are still missing. >> now, as far as the pledge of allegiance goes from boko haram to the armed group i.s.i.l. what does that mean. does it mean more global support for boko haram, more weapons for them on the ground? >> well basically boko haram - when it all started, it was an extremist group in the northern part of nigeria, particularly in borneo state, the birth place of the movement. and it was radicalized over time from attacking police and muslim clerics who are opposed to their own

there's a couple of people they spoke to across the area mostly against jonathan goodluck. the general, and they complain or fear that they will not be allowed vote. all you see is trapping political campaign. every 10 feet there's a political poster or flag. everyone is talking about the election, everyone is eager in the north-east. you see it not so much an appreciation for example, for the government of boko haram, in the context of the election. a decision was made months ago not to vote. because this person took the threat seriously, that's why he voted for the general of appreciation of wanting to vote and expectation that it will go against jonathan goodluck. and in nigeria. there could be violence afterwards. >> thank you very much indeed. nick schifrin - apologies for the poor quality of the line. he is promoting part of north-eastern nigeria there >>> saudi arabia says it has accepted a request by president abd-rabbu mansour hadi to try to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in yemen. it's not clear if the houthis will take part. last week they were trying to

president jonathan goodluck is seeking a second 4-year term. he faces a stiff challenge from a former military ruler, a muslim from the north. the elections were supposed to be held on 14 february but have been postponed for an appeared of six weeks. the nigeria military claims they would not guarantee safe elections in north nigeria where the group operates in. and the military have been involved in oppression against boko haram in which they are supported by forces from nigeria's neighbours - cameroon chad and niger. the two election issues are corruption, which is a run away issue in nigeria, and how to curve insecurity in north-east nigeria >>> speaking of northern nigeria, voter are facing major security concerns ahead of the elections. the region has been under siege by boko haram, with a little help. the threat of violence could sway the vote. >> until recently this was boko haram country. the fighters may have left the streets of maiduguri, but the threat they pose has not. it is why it's so extraordinarily that people are turning out f

goodluck jonathan is in the lead and mohammed.e will bring you the details. ♪ francine: welcome back to the "the pulse." nigeria now and with half of the states reported results from the presidential election, challenger muhammadu buhari holds a slim lead over goodluck jonathan. we are joined on the phone by uche. how likely is it that muhammadu buhari's lead will hold? uche: it is too early to talk about the winter because it the results. partial results are sure in the opposition candidate muhammadu buhari is leading by 2 million votes and this from a team of the country's 36 states and also important to know that we saw many states and the southeast where jonathan is popular has not been reported. however, muhammadu buhari has won in the 2 biggest states. we are expecting more results today. they did stop publishing results just before midnight and announced they would resume around 10:00 this morning. so far the results showing it will be a tight race between goodluck jonathan and muhammadu buhari but it is worth noting that t

so president goodluck jonathan under pressure. he granted this rare interview to the bbc at state lodge here in abuja, an interesting venue. it felt very cocooned from the outside world when you go down the lengthy corridors and past all the locked doors and the security checks it feels a thousand miles away from the rest of the country. but of course the president is under pressure at the moment also because of what's been going on in the northeast. and we have seen a radical change of the circumstances on the ground in the northeast. towns and villages have been taken back by the kneenigerian military as well as by chadian forces and with help from cameroon and niger as well. so the whole theater of conflict has changed a great deal. and that was the subject i was keen to pick up with president jonathan and i began by asking him to assess the status what he felt was the status now of boko haram. >> for getting weaker and weaker by the day. and i'm very hopeful that it will not take us more than a month to recover all territories

however, local media are reporting that president goodluck jonathan has been defeated in the presidential villa by the opposition candidate. now, that's the complex where president goodluck jonathan works and lives. apparently he was defeated in two polling stations. the independent national election commission have not verified that this is correct. clearly, it is two polling stations out of 150,000 across the country. not precisely a national picture. if it is correct, he has lost - clearly it will be a huge disappointment for the president. the electoral commission is saying everyone has to be patient, it's a colossal enters before them. they want to get it right and that it's a transparent process, and the way that results are released, satisfy all political parties taking part in the electionment. >> ynonne ndedge, thank you for that. joining us from the nigerian capital abuja. >> the nigerian military detained two journalists in the north. ahmed idris and ali mustafa were embedded with the military until they were detained. they are being held in their hotel since tuesday. al jazeer

the main candidates jonathan goodluck and muhammadu bahari urged that votes be free and fair. security has been a major factor. >> many nigerians have been demanding that the government supply free schooling across the country. we have a report from the southern city. >> reporter: meet this 10-year-old, the brightest in her class. she has big dreams. >> i want to be a doctor so i can treat people. >> the children attend schools in the state. the governor is trying to improve the security system in the oil-reach state. >> we'll build new schools, retraining teachers. a lot of teachers have not been trained for years. we'll train the teachers. >> education is free and compulsory. textbooks are provided by the government. chin where the same uniform, whether from rich or poor families. >> here in river states activists accuse politicians of having double standards. >> with our money, with your resources because they were in political power, that is unfair. the children of tort people, other people voters are not able to attend the schools. >> reporter: this girl attends a private

that's the party of president goodluck jonathan. we now know that it was a former government minister. he grabbed the mic and started screaming, accusing the independent international independent commission of not taking onboard complaints by the ruling party about results that were issued yesterday. things got louder and when security agents approached him to try to take the mic away from him, a scuffle broke out for quite a number of minutes about 15 minutes results announcement was suspended because it was impossible for the electoral commission officials here to start announcing results because the foreign minister would not leave the stage. he sat down on the steps of the stage and started demanding that the chairman of the commission be removed. he said nigerians would not take these results that there would be no peace in nigeria extremely worrying language from him. in the end he was calmed down. i think now he may have been escorted from the auditorium, because results are now being announced. everybody is just trying to re

opposition leader is challenging jonathan goodluck for the leadership of africa's popular country and called on nigerians to come out on mass and vote to remove who he called the incumbent government from office. access to quality education will be among the issues let's look at the country's education system. it has the highest number of children out of school anywhere in the world. more than 10 million, and violence is the reason many can't attend school. in borno, it's thought a third of all schools have been detroited by the fighting and 15,000 students are enable to attend the classes. the majority of students are girls. less than two-thirds complete primary school fewer finishing primary school. nigeria invests less in education than any other country in africa. with all that in mind people are demanding the government supply free schooling, we report from where the government is trying to improve the education system. >> teachers say this 10-year-old is the brightest in her class. she has big dreams. >> i come here i want to teach people. >> the children attend a southern schoo

coming up on al jazeera america an al jazeera exclusive goodluck jonathan talks about allegation is of mishandling boko haram and violence that threatens the upcoming election. british teenage girls who said they were leaving home to join i.s.i.l. have been spotted on video. and benjamin netanyahu's address to congress, 11:30 eastern 8:30 pacific. >> nasa steps in to help protect the future of the planet. >> the tropics regulate our climate. >> "techknow" heads to costa rica to see how one rainforest is fighting back. >> wow! some of these are amazing. >> "techknow's" team of experts show you how the miracles of science... >> this is my selfie, what can you tell me about my future? >> can affect and surprise us. >> don't try this at home. >> "techknow" where technology meets humanity. tomorrow, 5:30 eastern. >> in an exclusive interview with al jazeera nigeria admit mishandling the crisis, postponed by a lack of security. al jazeera am yvonne ndege spoke to the president in lagos. >> with less than four weeks to go before the upcoming election, president goodluck jonathan promised he w

sounds like jonathan goodluck is not doing well. leading contender muhammadu buhari is seen as a better and credible alternative to the counter enbum bant and it seems like nigeria across the country are singing and preaching for change. prior to the election the parties skyped an agreement and they pledge that they'll knor whoever wins. sounds like the independent electoral commission is doing a lot of work to make sure it's free, fair and credible. i believe many have come out to vote. we hope it will be respected and the candidates accept defeat if they lose. >>> two other al jazeera journalists that have been deployed have been detained. they have been held in a hotel by the military on tuesday. both were embedded with the military in the most before being detained. al jazeera is demanding their unconditional release. >> police fired tear gas at an angry crowd. since friday people have been told it stay indoors. some defied the order. they came looking for food. when there wasn't enough. fights broke out. this is an impoverished

jonathan goodluck is from there, and when he was elected people had high hopes help would be on the way. little has changed. for hundreds of years people used the creeks for transport. and they supported a pressure os eco system. one of the world's largest forests. we are going to a village we visited eight years ago. back in twch the only way to get there was by boat. the community said they were poor. they wanted the namian government to develop the village. we have not seen them in eight years. nothing has changed. her community of 60,000 people is still poor. >> we are angry. we don't deal on top with the million. >> years of oil spills caused by caps and illegal tapping by young people polluted many of the creeks. oil spills will cost a billion dollars and take 30 years to clean-up. the water is a dark colour, it's filthy and smell of oil. >> eva has been finishing since he was a boy. he's 42 years old and worries about what is happening to their home. he often doesn't catch enough for his family. >> if you don't have fish you are suffering. >> village elders are tired of asking th

the presidential vote on saturday is expected to be a close race between incumbent jonathan goodluck and the former jern >>> oil is an issue in the election. the niger getta is where almost all came from. it provides three-quarters of government revenue. it is also one of the country's poorest. they know what they are doing is illegal. they don't care. young, unemployed men steal crude oil from pipelines, and refine it in the creek of the niger niger niger delta. they say it belongs to the people. >> it's eating our money. where you have money, someone is eating, who owns it. you be hungry. look for how to get part of it. >> the men claim to produce 60,000 litres a day from the improvised refineries. >> look at what the business is doing to the environment. this place used to be lush and green. more than 200 refineries are in the area. they say they need the money to look after their families. >> falling oil price means less currency is learnt. problems keep piling up. basic commodities are arriving. >> where you go to the market. the way you want to buy sf. >> a well-armed joint tas

it's expected to be a close race between jonathan goodluck and a former general. the niger delta is where almost all of nigeria's oil comes from providing three-quarters of government revenue, as reported. the niger delta region is one of the country's poorest. >> they know what they are doing is illegal, but they don't care. young, unemployment men steel crude oil from pipe lines and refine it in the creek of niger delta. they say the resource belongs to the community, not the nigerian government or oil company. >> where you have something, somebody has eent it you'll be pleased with it. we look at how to get part of it. >> the men claimed to produce around 60,000 litres a day from the improvised refineries. >> look at what the business is doing to the environment. this place used to be lush and green. there are more than 200 refineries in the area. they need the money to look after their families. >> falling oil prices mean less currency is learnt. for poor nigerians, the problems pile up. prices are rising. >> there's no money. why you go to the market to buy t

that could skew it back toward goodluck jonathan. many people are saying when you look at the map, it's going to be very hard for the incumbent to catch up. the gap that has developed between him and buhari. >> many thanks indeed. >> we are going to go back to turkey. mark lowen is back with us. sorry, we lost you there. tell us more about the power cut. >> i'm in a shared taxi. it's impossible to get individual taxis. the public transport network has gone down. that is one of the ways istanbul and the country uses the power. shopping malls, homes, factories, all down. when the power was cut mid-morning today. it's not exactly known what caused the incident. the prime minister says it may be down to a line connecting mainland turkey and europe. they were investigating a cyber attack or terror attack but at the moment there's no indication that has been the case. we are getting information 15% of istanbul has power restored. in the meantime flights have been delayed. >> if power has been restored that is positive if that's the case. w

jonathan goodluck is facing a challenge. after months of campaigning polls suggest the race is a dead heat. an explosion on election day has voters on high alert. it happened at a primary school in the south-east state. police diffused two bombs an hour later. no injuries have been reported. ynonne ndedge is in the capital. >> i'm at a polling station in national national provincial agency. hundreds have turned up to cast ballots. men and women have been asked to stand in separate lines. this is an important moment for nigeria's democracy, it's 16 years since the end of military rule. there's so many changes facing the nigerian people. they feel having the right leaders is the key to answering the issues that the country is facing. we lined up voters to speak to and find out what they are aspecting. you are live on al jazeera. what are you expecting from your next. >> i'm expecting two things. first, security. in the south, these people they are doing everything. they need to protect the borders. that's the main thing. many

muhammadu bahari is challenging jonathan goodluck. he called out nigerians to come out on mass and wrote to remove the government from office. >>> access to quality information will be among the key issues. let's take a look. the country has the highest number of children out of school, more than 10 million. violence is a reason many can't go to school. it's thought a third of all schools have been destroyed by the fighting. 15,000 students are able to attend classes. the majority of children mainly in the north, less than two-thirds complete primary school and fewer finishing secondary school. nigeria addresses less in education than other countries. >> people demand that there be free schooling across the country. the government has been trying to improve the education system. >> reporter: teachers say this 10-year-old is the brightest in his class. these children attend a government school. the government is largely accredited for improving the education system. they built new schools. recruiting teachers. training our teachers. >>

now, if president goodluck jonathan or the main opposition candidate buhari both fail to do this thisction will go to a runoff in a week's time and it will be the first time in nigeria democratic history there has been a runoff between two presidential candidates. >> all the while, while the country is poised waiting to hear who their new leader will be tensions will rise and quite a lot of pressure on authorities to get a result out as soon as possible. >> reporter: well, there is a lot of pressure. both of the main candidates have urged everybody to remain pay patient but because it's such a tight contest people want them to release the result. we already have at least 18 states whose results have not been announced, however, local media are reporting that the largest state in nigeria that is legos state has gone to opposition candidate buhari and reporting he won with 792000 votes over goodluck jonathan 632 votes but no official confirmation so far from the electoral commission. if correct this won't come as a complete surprise because legos has always been opposition territory sin

goodluck jonathan denies mishandling the campaign against the armed group who have killed thousands ofple. he gave an exclusive i interview to our cropped next correspondent in lagos. >> reporter: with less than four weeks to go until election, president goodluck jonathan promised voters he will defeat boko haram. >> we must end it. i am telling you the stages, first is to take over oil territories. we take over all the territories that they are holding they are becoming weaker, now we'll improve monitoring. the technology to monitor the activities. and then we'll begin to pick them and, of course, frustrate the activities. inning. >> reporter: and the president denied accusations his government has mishandle the boko haram situation. >> it's not a question of mishandle being. [ inaudible ] >> reporter: president goodluck jonathan is standing for rewill he he can, it was postpone today six weeks. we asked him whether the election date could be moved again? >> i don't think so. i think the elects will be conducted. the national lexes will be on the 28th of the month. i don't see why we

now, if the incumbent president goodluck jonathan fails to do that if the main opposition challengerfails to do that they will have to face a runoff and it will be the first time in 16 years since nigeria became a democracy there ever would be a runoff in the country. it will be a huge challenge for the electoral authorities and census that it's something that everybody wants to avoid and wants a clear winner in the first round and so far the main opposition buhari is leading with around 2 million votes but all could change because there are at least 18 states yet to announce results in this election. >> reporter: speaking of the states let's look at legos in particular and the popular state in nigeria any indication of who will win there? >> reporter: well local media are already reporting that legos has gone to the opposition leader buhari and saying he has won by some 792000 compared to goodluck jonathan 632000 votes but this has not been confirmed by the independent electoral commission and the chair of the commission is about to take his seat and people expecting more results to

buhari is just ahead of goodluck jonathan. we are waiting for key states to declare their numbers. let's go there now. peter is there for us. how close are we to knowing the final result? >> reporter: well lucy the coalition announcing the results is supposed to commence about 45 minutes ago but witnessed a little bit of drama at the center when a former minister a man named peter, he went in there and challenged the process saying there have been irregularities in state where is the results have been announced which gave buhari a lead so far. he said as far as he was concerned, until the electoral commission said something, the process would not go on. this drama continues for about 20 minutes until he was persuaded or forced out of the whole by security agents. we couldn't see that part because the television cameras moved away from him. some drama here in the last few minutes or so. the announcement of the results have commenced. general buhari holds a sizable lead in the results we know so far. in elections counted so far, a lead of 2.2 million votes. lucy, let's take a look at

more than 1,000 people died when the main opposition leader muhammedu habari lost to goodluck jonathanople wait, they will find out soon who has won. haru mutasa, al jazeera lagos. >> yvonne ndege joins us live. when do you think we're likely to get some results? >> well, the electoral commission boss says it's going to take some time. it could be very late into the night, into the early hours of the morning potentially. of nigeria's 36 states only the results of eight of those states have been announced. we know from what was announced here in the commission that the opposition leading in four of those states in the southwest mainly but here in the capital the ruling party that's the party of president goodluck jonathan they have won the fct they've won the nation's capital. it is a complicated process i just said, there's results from 28 additional states to be announced here and we're hoping to have the electoral commission staff resume those results in a couple of hours. the number of registered voters has to be announced the number of croord voters accredited voters need to be ann

. >> in nigeria, goodluck jonathan is facing a strong challenge from muhammedu bahari. yvonne ndege is on the ground there. >> grace works at a market in lagos. she hopes for one thing: >> i want peace. i don't want fight. i want peace no fighting. that we can sell in our markets. that's what i want. >> reporter: people in lagos appear to be getting on with their lives. the streets look busy but residents tell us it's quieter than usual. the next few days are crucial. people don't know what will happen after final results are announced. many people in nigeria don't want any election violence, they just want their country to move on. there is anticipation in many parts of nigeria. they only believe official results will be released from the electoral commission. >> i let the nation feel good about that. >> reporter: many know the threat of post election violence is very real. more than 1,000 people died when the main opposition leaders led to goodluck jonathan back in 2011 four years on it's deja vu for nigerians the same two men want to rule africa's most populace natio

nigeria's president goodluck jonathan said it is for the election. we're live on the line from the capital of abuja. what will these closures mean? >> well, lauren, this is very significant, going ahead with the planned timetable of these elections. people were afraid. people were jittery that it could--the elections could be postponed again. they were supposed to take place in the middle of february and the end of february. they were postponed for six weeks because the security services said that they wanted more time to fight boko haram. this announcement is an indication that everything is on course. the election for president--the presidential election will take place on saturday. there is also another election on april 11th to elect 26 state governors and local parliaments. it looks like because of this decision, it came with the approval of president goodluck jonathan, will go ahead. in the statement there was also a line about making sure that they would take part of the elections. there is a lot of cross-border migration, and the nigerian aut

. >>> accusing people working for president goodluck jonathan's party of violence, in the oil producing river state of nigeria. yvonne ndege reports from abuja. >> reporter: well, river state is a very strategic state in these elections. it is a key battle ground state between the ruling party the people's democratic party and the opposition the all progressive congress. what voters are saying that many of the election materials failed to arrive and that all important results sheets and as a consequence of that they were unable to vote. they want the independent national electoral commission to investigate what happened. they say it is critical they vote in these elections and there's huge concern about what the impact of all of this may be. tension is high in this state. here is my report, my summary of events that have happened around the country on sunday. up to 15,000 opposition supporters protested outside the electoral commission office in harcourt. the oil rich southern area. they said they didn't get chance to vote because electoral sheets never arrived. alleged underage voting

early returns though incumbent goodluck jonathan trailing former military leader muhammedu buhari. we are live from nigeria. what is the latest there and how soon can we expect to see more results? >> the chairman of the national electoral commission is announcing the results. we know already that the main opposition presidential candidate muhammedu buhari has 13 states and the incumbent president goodluck jonathan has got 11 of those states. the winner of this race not only needs a clear majority of the national votes they also have to get at least 25% of the votes in 24 of nigeria's 36 states. if the incumbent fails to do that if the main opposition fails to do that, this race will go to a runoff in a week's time. it will be the first time in nigeria's democracy has has ever happened. we are still waiting. you can hear behind me the chairman announcing the results from several more states. it will be a clearer picture who has won this race so far. >> going into this, you reported that this was going to be a tight race. is this initial vote count a cause for concern for the sittin

both the incumbent president goodluck jonathan and main challenger appealed for a peaceful polling dayooks like they are not going to get that as we said at least eight people killed in two drive-by shootings today, what do you make of that? >> yeah definitely looks a bit worrying because we have had a number of incidents today. there was one in the state where people have been killed on two occasions and both were attacked and it was complete destruction of voting in the state, in that part of the state where the killing took place although we are not sure that is going to continue that way. and in the state we also had some incidents of shooting and destruction of ballot boxes which is also worrying to anyone that is watching this situation and of course we have had intimidation in other parts of nigeria and i think it's directly contradictory to the peace deal of the two leading countries. so i think anyone of this institution should be worrying at this time because it means if it continues like this it could affect the outcome of election and any of the candidates could be disputed

president goodluck jonathan and former military dictator are the front runners of 14 candidates. parliamentary elections are being held at the same time. we're live in abuja. tell us more about this election-related violence that we've seen today. >> well, adrian, security was always going to be a factor in these elections. you might remember that the elections themselves were delayed by six weeks because of insecurity in the northeast of the country where the nigerian military and other forces from neighboring west african countries have been fighting boko haram. these attacks we're hearing about today have to be put in context. the authorities, the police and electoral authorities always anticipated there would be people trying to disrupt some of the voting, which is what they think they've seen today. and of course they have done, they say, a lot to protect the chances of a free, fair, and transparent election. you have to remember that there are over 120,000 polling stations that are being organized for people to vote in. and we're looking at something close to 60 million peo

on sunday she took part in a televised debate with president goodluck jonathan.s confident things can improve. >> women themselves are proving that they are capable in other spares of life. we have seen nigerian women rise to be ceo's of companies, several ministers, and so why should they be kept out of -- of politics? >> reporter: but the election umpire thinks more stringent measures might have to be put in place to increase the number of women candidates. >> reporter: some people suggest that [ inaudible ] reserve seats for women as is done in some other countries. [ inaudible ] maybe after election we'll keep reviewing -- >> reporter: the critics makes it the law for only women to run in some offices won't necessarily produce the best candidates. >>> india's supreme court has struck down a controversial law curtailing internet freedoms. it made it illegal to post content on line that was deemed offensive or menacing. >> reporter: one of the alarmest complaints is that this law was used arbitrarily. anyone could use this law to file a police complaint, and if

a closely contested presidential electionment earlier results showed the incumbent president goodluck jonathan is slightly behind muhammadu buhari. voting took place in 36 states. votes have been counted in 18 states. 10 states have gone to muhammadu buhari, eight voted for goodluck jonathan. even though muhammadu buhari leads overall, the number of votes alone - that does not settle the election. . >> well the results from 18 states in this presidential election are yet to be announced. including nigeria's popular state, legos, which has the highest number of voters. once there's a winner in terms of the national picture, one candidate getting the majority of the votes, there's another phase. the winner has to also get at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of nigeria's 36 states. we know from the release of data that the main opposition presidential candidate is leading by some 2 million votes. with 18 other states to be announced, that could change. the electoral commission and the candidates are calling on nigerians to be patient and let the electoral commission do its job. >> it's been a

president goodluck jonathan called president buhari to concede victory. security played its part. and to rescue the schoolgirls abducted last year. with the economy wobbling many hope that a tough general can cover the corruption still holding nigeria back. mostly, this victory was about an african democracy maturing. a defining moment for nigeria. because for the first time in its history power is being transferred peacefully from one party to its rival. the celebrations continued last night. but a decision link this is likely to have aftershocks. laura: i spoke with andrew asking him if it would be a peaceful handover. andrew: the fact that goodluck jonathan conceded so quickly that phone call will help push any tensions to the background, at least for now. it almost certainly prevented bloodshed. 800 deaths followed the last election with people frustrated with the result. this was pretty much a clean bill of health, despite concerns that of america and britain voiced about the possibility of rigging. that has not materialized. the result stands. hopefully, there will be a fair