Nigeria's opposition claimed today that vote rigging had begun on the eve of a presidential election.
The opposition Action Congress (AC) said troops in the north had intercepted a truck of completed ballots 24 hours before the poll, seen as a watershed for both Nigeria and Africa.
But the electoral commission said the accusation, which followed widespread rigging in regional polls last week, could not be true because new ballots were still arriving from abroad after a last-minute change and had not yet been distributed.
Opposition parties have declared no confidence in the commission after last week's state election, which handed the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) a landslide.
The country's electoral commissioner has announced a two-hour delay to the start of Saturday's voting to give more time for ballots to be distributed. Many polling stations opened hours late in the regional poll.
The election is intended to mark a big step forward for democracy in Africa's most populous nation, ushering in the first handover from one elected president to another in a country that has had three decades of army rule.
A last-minute Supreme Court ruling on Monday has deepened confusion over the election.
The court ruled the election commission acted illegally in disqualifying Atiku Abubakar, President Olusegun Obasanjo's estranged deputy and AC candidate. He was then reinstated.