Found this was on YouTube. Clip from excellent BBC Four documentary ‘Hot Shots: Nigeria’ first broadcast 11th May 2005.
I think this is from a press conference held in Abuja around 1st March 1999 by the Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute of International Affairs. (General Colin Powell is sitting next to President Carter.)
(This is not from 2003… slightly cheeky juxtapositioning of archive materials, but I suppose the point that’s being made by doing it is valid…)
President Carter’s mic isn’t great, and since not all of you can see YouTube… here’s what he has to say:
I would say the most serious single problem was the incompatability between the number of voters observed by us at the polling places and the totals reported at the end of the process.
This tallies with their Post Election Statement:
Although there were many positive aspects of the presidential election, notably the peaceful conduct of polling, we are greatly concerned about evidence of serious flaws in the electoral process in certain areas of the country.
It should be noted that President Carter and the Center were involved in 2003’s process insofar as they made an assessment of the electoral process that urged Nigeria to make improvements.
