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People discuss Saturday's election as they look at newspapers from a street vendor at an intersection in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. Nigerians voted Saturday to choose a new president, following the second and final term of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Electoral officials check election documents, at the Local Independent National Electoral Commission office in Yola, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People are still voting across Nigeria, one day after Africa's most populous nation went to the polls to vote for presidential and parliamentary elections. Votes are being cast in Benue, Adamawa and Bayelsa states, while ballots are being tallied in places where voting is complete, with preliminary results expected as early as Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

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Presidential candidate Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, center, accompanied by his wife, Oluremi Tinubu, right, speaks to the media after casting his vote in the presidential elections in Lagos, Nigeria, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023. Voters in Africa's most populous nation are heading to the polls Saturday to choose a new president, following the second and final term of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Nigeria's Labour party candidate Peter Obi speaks to journalists before casting his vote during the presidential elections in Agulu, Nigeria, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023. Voters in Africa's most populous nation are heading to the polls Saturday to choose a new president, following the second and final term of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

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Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the People's Democratic party, Nigeria's opposition party, centre, waves to his supporters after a traditional Friday prayers at the Moddibo Adama Mosque in Yola Nigeria, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. On Feb. 25, voters will choose among 18 candidates in a first-round vote to succeed incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, but despite being Africa's largest economy and and one of its top oil producers, Nigeria is in economic crisis. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

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Nigerian police protect a collation center which was engaged in collating results manually, in Lagos, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People were still voting across Nigeria Sunday morning, the day after Africa's most populous nation was supposed to have completed elections, as logistical and security challenges caused widespread delays. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Electoral workers collate results manually at a center in Lagos, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People were still voting across Nigeria Sunday morning, the day after Africa's most populous nation was supposed to have completed elections, as logistical and security challenges caused widespread delays. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Nigerian children attend a special church service, while their parents attend another in a building nearby, at the Celestial Church of Christ in the Makoko area of Lagos, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People were still voting across Nigeria Sunday morning, the day after Africa's most populous nation was supposed to have completed elections, as logistical and security challenges caused widespread delays. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Police officers patrol the area at the entrance of the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Yola, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. Nigerians voted Saturday to choose a new president, following the second and final term of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

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A woman prays during a service at the First African Church Mission in Lagos, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People were still voting across Nigeria Sunday morning, the day after Africa's most populous nation was supposed to have completed elections, as logistical and security challenges caused widespread delays. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Newspapers are displayed at a street vendor at an intersection in Lagos, Nigeria on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. Nigerians voted Saturday to choose a new president, following the second and final term of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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Electoral officials gather election documents, at the Local Independent National Electoral Commission office in Yola, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People are still voting across Nigeria, one day after Africa’s most populous nation went to the polls to vote for presidential and parliamentary elections. Votes are being cast in Benue, Adamawa and Bayelsa states, while ballots are being tallied in places where voting is complete, with preliminary results expected as early as Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

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Nigerian police sit in the back of a truck as they protect a collation center which was engaged in collating results manually, in Lagos, Nigeria, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People were still voting across Nigeria Sunday morning, the day after Africa's most populous nation was supposed to have completed elections, as logistical and security challenges caused widespread delays. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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The congregation attendsa church service at the Celestial Church of Christ in the Makoko area of Lagos, Nigeria Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023. People were still voting across Nigeria Sunday morning, the day after Africa's most populous nation was supposed to have completed elections, as logistical and security challenges caused widespread delays. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Election results only announced for 1 of Nigeria's 36 states

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 2:33 PM ET Feb. 26, 2023 PUBLISHED February 26, 2023 @2:33 PM

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s election commission announced the first results late Sunday from the country's closely watched presidential election, but it could days before a winner is declared.

The ruling All Progressives Congress party's candidate, Bola Tinubu, secured the most votes in southwest Nigeria's Ekiti state, the commission said at the national collation center in the capital, Abuja.

Results from 35 other states and Abuja were still pending after logistical problems and security concerns caused voting delays. People across the country continued casting ballots Sunday even though the general election, which included choosing a new national legislature, had been scheduled to end Saturday.

“We are aware there will be many more states concluding tonight and )tallies) coming to Abuja,” Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, said.

Voters keenly awaited for the announcement of the winner in the race to lead Africa’s most populous country, where incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is stepping down after two four-year terms.

There were three front-runners in the 18-party race: Tinubu, the main opposition party’s Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi with the Labour Party, the surprise candidate in what was long regarded as a two-person contest.

A winner is not expected to be announced until at least Monday. After the last presidential election, it took four days for a declaration of victory. A runoff election will be held if no candidate secures one-quarter of the votes from two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital city along with receiving the highest number of votes.

On Sunday, worshippers at the House on the Rock church in Abuja were asked to sing and dance in thanksgiving for a successful election. And in Enugu state, Catholic Bishop Igwebuike Onah urged the election commission to be transparent:

“We beg especially the Independent National Electoral Commission to be careful, judicious and transparent in handling the votes of the people," he said.

Some frustrated voters who were unable to cast ballots Saturday waited overnight at polling stations that stayed open on Sunday.

“I waited from morning till night to vote on Sunday and now they are taking time to announce (the winner),” Kate Imadu, 26, in Abuja.

Election officials blamed the delays on logistical issues, though other observers pointed to the upheaval created by a redesigned currency that has left many residents unable to obtain bank notes.

The cash shortage affected transportation not only for voters but also for election workers and police officers providing security. The challenges also likely resulted in low voter turnout, said Yiaga Africa, the country’s largest election monitoring body.

While Saturday's election was largely peaceful, observers said there were at least 135 critical incidents, including eight reports of ballot-snatching, that undermined the legitimacy of the country's democracy,

“It is unacceptable that Nigerians who have the constitutional rights to participate in an election go out to cast their vote and you have thugs who make it difficult for them,” said Samson Itodo, the head of Yiaga Africa. “The nation needs to really rise and condemn these acts of voter suppression that we observed yesterday,” he said.

Associated Press journalists saw armed men pull up to a voting station in a minibus Saturday, fire shots in the air and grab the presidential ballot box. The shots sent voters screaming and scattering, and ballots strewn across the floor.

In the capital, Abuja, some voters said they were barred from voting at all.

“They employed various strategies to make sure that we do not continue to vote,” said Emmanuel Ogbu. The 45-year-old trader waited with more than 100 people to vote Sunday but was told by election officials they didn't have enough supplies, such as ink, and needed to wait for the supervisor who had yet to arrive.

The elections were being carefully watched as Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy. By 2050, the U.N. estimates that Nigeria will tie with the United States as the third most populous nation in the world after India and China.

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Associated Press reporters Taiwo Ajayi in Abuja, Nigeria, Hilary Uguru in Asaba, Nigeria, and Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, contributed.