On our way into the countryside

My second full day in Abuja, Nigeria, was filled with more intense briefings on this nation’s political and religious scene, preparatory to our delegation’s deployment on Thursday to various parts of the country.

We met with Nigerian religious leaders today, including the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja and the Imam of the national mosque here. Nigeria is a nation that is almost evenly divided between Moslems, mainly in the north, and Christians, mainly in the south. The clergy play an important role in trying to keep political discourse as civil as possible.

We also had a fascinating briefing from the “Independent National Election Commission,” which is charged with the responsibility of pulling together these elections (legislative, presidential and gubernatorial) in the days and weeks ahead.

Aspects of the voting process here are much different than what we’re used to at home. For example, voters who want to cast ballots must arrive at the polling place between 8:00 a.m. and noon to sign up. Once everyone has had their identity validated and their registration verified, they must wait until 12:30 p.m. to start voting.

Thus, hundreds of people at each polling station will be stuck for several hours before casting a single ballot—with temperatures in the high 90′s and humidity to match. (The reason for this process, we’re told, is to prevent people from going from one polling place to another and casting multiple votes—a problem that has plagued past Nigerian elections. The theory is that a person can only be at one polling place at the prescribed time of 12:30.)

The last set of briefings today was about security—both for the election and for our observer team. Violence has been an unfortunate part of the Nigerian political landscape for decades. Disruption of polling stations, intimidation and worse have been used by some parties in some states to diminish their opposition’s vote and turnout, thus improving the perpetrators’ electoral prospects. Moreover, kidnapping, robbery, murder and even roadside bombs have been employed in certain states. We’ve been given the “do’s and don’ts” to minimize our own vulnerability.

Tomorrow, I leave for Kwara state with my monitoring partner, Jennifer Cooke, director of the African program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic Studies. There, about a five-hour drive west of Abuja, we’ll meet with local stakeholders, party reps, journalists and leaders of non-partisan civil society tomorrow and Friday.

On Saturday, we’ll cover as many polling stations as we can reach to determine whether the election in this state is credible, or whether irregularities bring its validity into question. More than 20 teams like mine will fan out across Nigeria to do exactly the same thing. On Sunday, we’ll reconvene in Abuja to debrief. Then based on the report of all of our teams, NDI will issue a statement evaluating the transparency and fairness of the election.

Essentially, we and the thousands of other observers who have descended upon this nation will help bear witness to whether the Nigerian people have been able to elect representatives of their choosing.

Finally, I look forward to crossing and seeing the Niger River for the first time. The Niger has been the lifeblood of West Africa since human time began in these parts. This mother of a river has intrigued me since my UCLA days as a graduate student in British Imperial History.

I’m signing off for now. The next three days will be memorable, no matter what happens. They’ll also be work intensive and time consuming. I’ll do my best to share my experiences, but I may miss a day or two.

Posted 4/6/11