By Estelle Shirbon

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, April 14 (Reuters) - Polling stations failed to open on time and scuffles broke out at electoral headquarters in Nigeria's oil city of Port Harcourt on Saturday after news spread of night attacks on police stations.

Voting for the state governor and members of the state house of assembly was supposed to start at 8 a.m. (0700 GMT) but in three electoral wards in the city centre visited by Reuters, there was no functioning polling station by 10 a.m.

"I came here early because it's very important for every Nigerian to vote in the good people to improve leadership in our country, but after two hours they have not even started," said Chike Adiele, a pastor from a church in the D-Line area.

"The voters are here, the police are here, the observers are here. I can't imagine why the electoral officers are not here. It's a question they have to answer," he said, waiting outside a primary school that was supposed to host a polling station.

There were small groups of voters waiting outside some deserted schools, but the city was mostly empty, with boys playing football on some streets.

At Mini-Okoro police station, hundreds of people gathered to look at the smouldering ruin of the building attacked in the night by unknown gunmen who threw dynamite and set it ablaze.

"The police can't even protect themselves. How can they protect us? I have told my children to stay at home and I am not going to vote. It's too dangerous," said a resident who gave her name as Grace, staring at the burnt carcasses of police cars.

Six policemen were killed in the attack on Mini-Okoro, while one died at Elelenwo, another police station that was attacked and destroyed during the night, said the police spokeswoman for Rivers State, where Port Harcourt is located.

At the headquarters of the electoral body in one of the two local government areas that make up Port Harcourt, young men shouted and shoved each other, arguing over who was handling ballot papers.

"What is happening here is that members of a particular party are getting in the bus with the election materials," said Ishmael Orji, a member of the opposition Accord party.

Electoral officials denied that any party members had handled the ballot papers. The materials were stacked in the dirt in a yard crowded with young men, most of whom wore no identity badges.

Policemen sat at the back of the yard, while an elderly gateman was overwhelmed by dozens of young men who pushed their way into the premises without identifying themselves.

The official in charge declined to answer questions about what was causing the delays in distributing the ballot papers, ballot boxes and polling booths to the wards.

Dozens of portable polling booths, designed to allow people to vote in secret, were piled up on the ground. Asked why these had not been taken to the polling stations, an official said they were not needed because it was not raining.

AlertNet news is provided by