VZCZCXRO4068
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHOS #1313/01 3031343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 301343Z OCT 06
FM AMCONSUL LAGOS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8101
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 7964

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 001313 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W 
STATE FOR INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV NI
SUBJECT: STATE INECS PREPARE FITFULLY FOR VOTER REGISTRATION 
 
REF: ABUJA 2625 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Before the announcement by the 
Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) that nationwide 
registration would be postponed until October 25, Poloff took 
a swing through Nigeria's six Southwestern States to assess 
the status of voter registration.  State INEC officials told 
Poloff that rechargeable batteries for the voter registration 
machines would overcome the lack of electricity in many 
places in Southern Nigeria.  The officials had no 
instructional materials available, but said that information 
would be available in the newspapers and on-line.  Well 
underway in the States visited was the hiring of registration 
workers; one Action Congress official complained that, in 
Lagos, all registration workers were People's Democratic 
Party (PDP) members.  Just two weeks before voter 
registration was scheduled to start, we saw scant evidence of 
readiness to begin the exercise.  Although the postponement 
gave INEC a reprieve, voter registration still got off to a 
wobbly start on October 25.  In many places, INEC 
preparations were languid at best.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) In late September, Poloff and Polspec visited 
Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and local party 
officials in the Southwestern States of Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, 
Ondo, and Edo to evaluate voter registration preparation. 
Poloff's trip preceded the decision, made at the end of 
September, to postpone nationwide registration, scheduled to 
begin on October 7, to October 25.  According to Lagos State 
INEC Public Affairs Officer Femi Akinbiyi, registration would 
begin on October 7 in only a few areas, such as Bakassi and 
some northern districts where registration did not take place 
in 2002.  USAID sources reported that registration commenced 
on October 7 in parts of Delta, Cross River, and Taraba 
States as well as the Lagos river areas, but in many 
locations a lack of materials delayed registration. 
 
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INEC Holds Instructional Seminar in Abuja 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) INEC officials had just returned from instructional 
meetings in Abuja.  Officials told Poloff they were 
instructed how to implement "voter revalidation", the INEC 
term for registration.  The process requires all voters to 
re-register.  Officials in all states told Poloff that they 
had seen demonstrations of the registration machines. 
 
¶4.  (U) In Ekiti State, State INEC Administrative Secretary 
¶P. Olagbende told Poloff he had spent the previous day 
meeting with local party officials from the governing and 
opposition parties to explain the registration process and 
demonstrate the registration machine.  Olagbende said he used 
a machine to print out a sample registration card.  Olagbende 
showed Poloff cards that will be used to capture the voter's 
thumbprint, and explained the registration machine will 
simultaneously capture each registrant's photograph as well. 
The machine will then print the voter's registration card on 
the spot.  The biometric capture is intended to discourage 
fraudulent and duplicate voting, Olagbende emphasized. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
Registration Machines Nowhere In Evidence 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Although Olagbende told Poloff that he had a 
registration machine, Poloff did not see the machine in the 
Ekiti INEC office.  With the exception of Olagbende, no INEC 
officials in any of the states indicated to Poloff that they 
had machines available with which to begin registration. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Batteries Solve Power Problem, INEC Insists 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Poloff asked Ekiti INEC official Olagbende if he 
anticipated any problems stemming from the fact that the 
registration machines needed electricity.  Olagbende insisted 
that power would not be a problem.  Each registration machine 
is equipped with a battery that lasts eight hours and 
officials plan to re-charge the machines each night after the 
close of registration. 
 
 
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No Informational Literature Available 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) One constant among the state INEC offices was none of 
 
LAGOS 00001313  002 OF 002 
 
 
them had any literature or information about the registration 
process or about the elections available for public use. 
Poloff asked Administrative Secretary for the Osun State INEC 
Office Michael Na'allah if he could show Poloff some of the 
instructional materials available to registrants.  In 
response, Na'allah suggested that television advertisements 
and information that will be furnished to the print media 
would be the way the public is informed. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Hiring of Registration Workers Underway 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) In all of the States visited, hiring of election 
workers was underway, INEC officials told Poloff.  In the 
Ekiti State INEC office, Poloff and Polspec observed dozens 
National Youth Service Corps and other job hopefuls awaiting 
instructions.  At the Oyo State INEC Office in Ibadan there 
were no job seekers present; Public Affairs Officer Ayodele 
Folami told Poloff the recruitment and screening of the ad 
hoc registration officers would be done in the local council 
areas to ensure that registration workers actually live in 
the areas in which they are registering voters. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Political Parties Planning to Send Observers 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Poloff spoke with local party officials to gauge 
their satisfaction with the registration process.  Action 
Congress (AC) party officials in Oyo and Ondo States told 
Poloff they would send monitors to observe the voter 
registration process and to report any irregularities to 
their local councils and the public.  In Lagos State, Israel 
Opayemi, Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor, 
voiced concern because all of the election officials 
conducting the revalidation exercise are PDP members. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Comment:  Just two weeks before voter registration 
was scheduled to start, we saw scant evidence that the six 
Southwestern States were ready to begin the process.  Nor 
were we convinced by officials' explanations for how they 
planned to keep the machines running in the absence of 
electricity, although we did not ask specifically about 
arrangements for generators.  While INEC made some headway in 
planning for the October 25 commencement, initial reports 
confirm that INEC never caught up completely.  In many 
places, due to INEC inefficiency, voter registration began in 
name only.  End Comment. 
 
BROWNE