New York,  – Nigerians living in the U. S. have commended the conduct of the National assembly elections, held in some parts of the country on Saturday.

Respondents, who spoke  in New York, said the elections conducted by the INEC in thousands of polling unit across Nigeria were
largely peaceful and free of the significant glitches of past elections.

The Nigerians said they relied on local media organisations that gave live multimedia reports of the elections from locations around the country.

Others said they kept tab with foreign media reportage of events and frequent telephone calls to contacts at home.

“I contacted people during accreditation and after voting from various parts of the country. The recurring expression was everything was going or went on smoothly,’’

Dr. Acho Orabuchi, a Nigeria living in Dallas, Texas said.

“However, there were pockets of violence in some areas in the nation depicting the cowardice of the perpetrators of those acts,’’ he said

Orabuchi, described the awareness of the electorate as “unparalleled,’’ stressing that voters are “aware of the issues unlike in the past.’’

“People were eager to go out to vote without fear of pockets of violence, particularly the bomb blasts preceding the National Assembly elections,” he added.

Sir Basil Njoku, a Nigerian in New York, said initial assessments suggested that the  April 9 elections were largely peaceful and free of the irregularities that have characterised  the previous elections.

“ But I believe that in the next few hours when the results are called we will know the true nature of the elections and people’s reaction whether their wishes were respected.

He cautioned that “if the will of the people is not respected, it undermines the advancement of democracy and the whole nation suffers.”

Mr Chris Malaka, a communication expert based in Maryland, described initial comments made by international observers on the election as very instructive.

“We saw some of the observers on national television commending the organisation of the election and turn out of voters despite the violence that preceded Saturday’s election.

“From all accounts, Nigeria has come of age and I think the process will continue to improve with time,’’ he said.

From Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Ezekiel Macham, National president of Zumunta organisation, USA, a socio-cultural organisation, gave thumbed up to INEC for a job well done.

“The election was not perfect, but it is getting better,’’ he said.

Macham  said there were complaints of registered voters not finding their names on the registration lists and called on INEC to improve on some of the lapses recorded in last Saturday’s election.

Nigerians in the Diaspora cannot vote because the National Assembly had not passed the enabling law.

However, President Goodluck Jonathan during his two visits to U.S in April and September 2010 assured that Nigerians abroad would vote in the next general elections in 2015.  (NAN)