Nigerian Elections 2007: What’s hot and what’s not in the media coverage
Archive for April 20th, 2007
Al Jazeera is running Andrew Simmons report from the Delta, with an interview with Ateke Tom (who’s gang claimed responsibility for attacks on police stations in Port Harcourt last weekend, leaving 7 officers dead.):
Ateke Tom, known as the godfather of the vigilantes in the dangerous Niger Delta, has threatened war against Nigeria’s government and admitted to carrying out deadly attacks on two police stations.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Tom said his group, the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV), is responsible for vote-rigging and death squads.
Election observers across Nigeria will be using mobile phones to text officials if they spot irregularities during Saturday’s presidential polls.
The pattern of political violence and the failure of the authorities to investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice has created a climate of impunity which can only encourage further election violence in Amnesty International’s view.
Nigerian electoral and government officials have not acknowledged the failure of voting in many areas, insisting that the polls were conducted in an entirely satisfactory manner. In Rivers, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner publicly declared, with total disregard for the facts on the ground, that in “almost all” parts of the state, voting took place smoothly from early morning until the close of polls.
We’re sifting through a lot of last weekend’s reports from the field… couldn’t resist sharing this with you as a teaser:
At Udu local government, the materials were distributed at the Divisional Police station The E.O. Mrs Animam Juwa B. while distributing the materials announced that she was “withholding 30% to avoid wastage” When asked why, she said ” I don’t expect a hundred percent turnout.”
This morning world oil prices rose 46 cents to to $66.40 a barrel on concerns that elections may be disrupted by violence.
This evening a militant attack rocked government house in Bayelsa State. Outgoing Governor Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck is standing tomorrow as Vice President. All across Nigeria, opposition groups accused the authorities of abuses ahead of tomorrow’s elections, and the Supreme Court deepened confusion by allowing estranged VP Atiku Abubakar to run.
Monitors are spreading out and will be reporting in through Greenlightnigeria in the next few days. Based on last weekend’s experiences, getting reports back in was quick but we are preparing for a lot more trouble (the attack on government house in Bayelsa is, obviously, not a good sign) so it may take longer to get the full picture this weekend.
Don’t forget you can get your instant reaction to events to us, and we can post it instantly, via Evoca.
From Global Voices:
It’s election time in Africa’s most populous country - Nigeria. Nigerian bloggers have been blogging their sentiments and observations of the election. This round-up gives a brief overview of election reports and views shared by Nigerian bloggers before, during and after last Saturday’s gubernatorial election.
