UPDATE: APRIL 25, 2007

The journalists with whom I was working in South Africa have published their investigation.

 Nigeria poll fiasco's SA

Stefaans Brümmer and Tumi Makgetla, Mai & Guardian 26/4/07

As the massive irregularities in the Nigerian presidential poll come into focus, it has emerged that South African companies were asked at the eleventh hour to print ballot papers that often did not reach polling stations in time.

A local printer says it declined a request four days ahead of the poll to print the bulk of the presidential ballots, as there was not enough time to do a proper job. Three other local companies printed the ballots, but did not add time-consuming security features.

The presidential election, held in tandem with federal legislative elections last Saturday, was won overwhelmingly by Umaru Yar'Adua, the ruling-party candidate and hand-picked successor of outgoing President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Observers have highlighted the late delivery -- and sometimes non-delivery -- of voting material as one of the central failings in elections some have branded a "charade". Nigerian observers and opposition parties have demanded a rerun.

Many claim the distribution of ballot papers was deliberately skewed to disenfranchise opposition voters. One monitor told the BBC of his experience in Nassarawa state: "We noticed that ballot papers were available in [ruling People's Democratic Party] PDP strongholds in the state and voting started in those areas on time. But, in places where the PDP wasn't in control, voting was delayed."

The opposition Action Congress of outgoing Vice-President Atiku Abubakar claimed that in all its strongholds, the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) "deliberately ensured inadequate supply of voting materials … If this is not rigging, we don't know what else to call it."

The last-minute printing rush in South Africa flowed from Inec's initial barring of Abubakar as a candidate. Abubakar fell out with Obasanjo last year when he opposed the latter's bid for a third term. He was subsequently indicted for corruption and omitted by Inec from the candidate list. On Monday last week, five days before the elections, the Supreme Court reversed Inec's decision.

Inec chairperson Maurice Iwu was quoted last month as saying: "Yes, he [Abubakar] will run if the Supreme Court says so. This is where the logistics issue actually comes in … I am not the type that makes a plan without having plan A, B and C."

Inec's fall-back plan, however, did not mean having ballot papers with Abubakar's name included.

Local printer Lithotech, whose ElectionsAfrica division supplied 100-million ballot papers for the Nigerian state elections a week before the presidential and federal elections, confirmed this week that it was invited on Tuesday last week to reprint 40-million presidential ballot papers to include Abubakar's name. Nigeria has 61-million registered voters.

Lithotech group development market manager Ben Sachs said the company "declined the offer to print within the short time-frame as air-freight availability and production time [were] not sufficient and the requirement could not be met". He said Lithotech "would never entertain accepting a contract where the risk of non-compliance as required in this instance is so high".

'Professional experience'

The Mail & Guardian has established that three other printers -- Media24-owned Paarl Printers; Formeset, which handles large South African government orders; and Ren-form, which has ballot supply experience -- were then asked by Nigerian authorities to supply the entire requirement, to be delivered to Nigeria by no later than Friday, the day before the elections.

The ballots were printed without counterfoils and serial numbers -- features usually included to establish an audit trail.

Paarl Print MD Mike Ehret confirmed the print order came on Tuesday. "Sure, we were under a lot of pressure, but it was a professional experience."

Ren-form manager Jean-Pierre du Sart said his company started printing on Tuesday evening and delivered locally Thursday evening. He said Ren-form had provided a "packing list" and labelled pallets to help establish an audit trail, but that serial numbers would have taken too long. "If we had put on serial numbers, I don't think the election would have taken place."

Du Sart added that "it must have been a logistical nightmare to distribute ballots to even the most remote areas in Nigeria".

Norman du Plessis, deputy chief electoral officer at South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission, confirmed that local printers had contacted the commission about time constraints. "To reprint 60-million ballots in three days would be a horrendous task," he said.

The ballots were flown to Nigeria aboard four cargo flights. Locally based Norse Air, say insiders, flew a cargo of about 40 tonnes, arriving on Friday afternoon at its Nigerian destination -- only to be ordered by armed men to take it to another airport, causing a further delay.

European-based MK Airlines transported about 170 tonnes on two flights on Friday, the second arriving at about 7pm in Lagos. A fourth consignment, also on Friday, was organised directly by the Nigerian government aboard a passenger plane whose seats had been removed.

The Commonwealth observer mission said the ballots' "arrival in the country on the eve of polling clearly affected their timely distribution. The lack of serial numbers on the presidential ballots also made them less secure."

M&G Africa editor Stephanie Wolters said from Nigeria, however, that there were clear instances where ballots were delivered to local authorities, but not distributed onwards to polling stations. "I don't think it was a logistical problem -- it was intentional."

Lithotech's Sachs said his company had delivered the state-level ballots to Nigeria on April 9 -- five days before those elections were held.

How shortages affected poll

The Transition Monitoring Group, which reportedly deployed 50 000 Nigerian observers, and the European Union observer mission have called the Nigerian elections a "charade".

Commonwealth observers, though more measured, highlighted the late opening of polls "in most parts of the country" -- only in the afternoon in some states. Voting was to have started at 10am last Saturday.

The National Democratic Institute, whose international observer mission included South African Constitutional Court Judge Yvonne Mokgoro, called the elections a "step backward". The institute added: "A major problem … was that polling stations in many states opened hours late, closed early or failed to open at all. This represented a fundamental barrier to popular political participation."

The Nigerian Joint Action Forum, a coalition of civil society bodies, demanded a rerun of the elections, saying that certain states dispatched election materials at about 6pm when voting should have finished an hour earlier.

The Guardian reported that in opposition strongholds in northern and eastern Nigeria, "a shortage of ballot papers left many people unable to vote".

One local newspaper said the electoral commission admitted only 40% of presidential ballots had been distributed in Yobe state on polling day, with the rest arriving at the end of the day. The newspaper cited the example of two local areas where presidential ballot papers were in very short supply, while there were enough or nearly enough National Assembly ballots.

The newspaper added: "It was the same story in many other parts of the state where voters who came out in large numbers to vote in the presidential elections returned home, as there were no adequate ballot papers at about 6.30pm."

UPDATE: 24 Apr 2007

 The South African journalists have been pursuing this story. Their research so far indicates that Lithotech printed the ballots for the April 14 election. When the Supreme Court permitted Atiku’s name to be added to the list, INEC contacted Lithotech to rush the printing for the elections on the 21^st. Lithotech stated that they couldn’t complete the printing on time. INEC then contracted with three other local companies (Palprint, Formset and Renform) who printed the ballots in a rush. They left out all serial numbers, control sheets, etc. and just printed the ballots. They delivered them to Johannesburg Airport warehouse late Wednesday, early Thursday.

A number of airfreight companies were contacted to try to arrange the airfreight of the ballots to Nigeria. An Ilyushin-76 from Norse Air was used; MK Airlines took two cargoes on a 747-200, and the Nigerian ambassador to South Africa arranged a flight. The Norse Air flight arrived on Friday and there were some delays as it was diverted to two other airports (not in the contract). The other flights were delayed because of the need to position the aircraft in South Africa and the inefficiencies of INEC and the Nigerian Air Control people. The South African aviation people say there was a lack of co-ordination between INEC and the printers and freight forwarders as well as a lack of urgency in the scheduling. They say they cannot comment on the reasons for the inefficiencies and delays; only that they happened. There is no figure yet on the numbers of ballots shipped and those left behind.

Investigations are continuing.

UPDATE (23 Apr 2007):

By the end of Thursday there was an apparent panic by Safcor Panalpina in South Africa and they contacted other air freight companies to see if they could transport the ballot papers (including our transport group). We were in a position to provide the necessary aircraft and told the Bidvest team that we needed money up front and then we would do it. Later that day (Thursday) we received the news that they weren't in a hurry after all. The 'Nigerian customer' wanted to wait until Friday to see if he would go ahead as planned. We heard nothing more. Late Friday afternoon, Nigerian air traffic control gave permission for some of the Safcor Panalpina flights to proceed but to stop at midnight. The next morning, Saturday, other flights left. There are still around 70% of the ballot papers left at the Johannesburg warehouse.

This was no accident. This was not poor planning. It was a concerted decision of the Nigerian electoral officials with Bidvest and the South African authorities to follow this plan; to starve the voting booths of valid voting papers. INEC and Aso Rock have convinced the world's media that this was the result of Atiku's late re-entry to the Presidential race which delayed the printing of the ballots.This is pure, unadulterated horseshit. This, my friends, is your democracy.This all happened because it was supposed to happen.  Democracy is too important to be left up to the people, na be so?

Robot  # 1 | 22.04.2007 09:41

On Wednesday evening of last week all 200 tons of Nigerian ballot papers were completed and...Read the full article.

ikechiji  # 2 | 22.04.2007 11:59

Thank you Dr. Busch for the insightful information which is a damming indictment of INEC and their wuru-wuru masters. This contribution is not from an "opposition" spin-master but an unbiased contributor who was privy to the process. Most Nigerians know that INEC's comments about their "preparedness" for the pre-scripted elections is bullsh**. INEC claimed they had a Plan B to put Atiku on the ballot on 48 hours notice. Their Plan B was to screw the Nigerian people. This election cannot and will not stand. Odego

oluye  # 3 | 22.04.2007 12:20

Is the wriyer ready to testify in a law court about what he has written? Who is he, where exactly does he work? He may not be an opposition of the leading party in Nigeria, but is he representing the interest of the opposition shippers in South Africa, who definitely stand to benefit if the one that handled the shipping is dis-credited. How do we even know its not one of our usual NVS writers posing as this man?

docokwy  # 4 | 22.04.2007 12:48

The poor Nigerian masses do not have the guns and cudgels to fight for their stolen votes. They can only heap curses on the perpetrators of this evil. To start with: 1. God punish Obasanjo and anybody that has anything to do with him in this life and in the life to come. Amen 2. God Punish fake professor Iwu and anybody that has anything to do with him. Amen 3. God punish any other persons who have contributed to making the current election a sham with the intent to maintain the status quo, business as usual. Amen

ikechiji  # 5 | 22.04.2007 13:11

=oluye;170410>Is the writer ready to testify in a law court about what he has written? Who is he, where exactly does he work? He may not be an opposition of the leading party in Nigeria, but is he representing the interest of the opposition shippers in South Africa, who definitely stand to benefit if the one that handled the shipping is dis-credited. How do we even know its not one of our usual NVS writers posing as this man? Oluye, Dr. Busch runs a transportation company but has also written extensively about Africa including here in NVS. His statements would be easy to cross-check. Here is his bio that I culled from the net: • Chairman and CEO of International Bulk Trade, Transport Logistics, Transport Africa and the North Pacific Lines, which owned chartered, operated marine dry cargo vessels and cargo aircraft worldwide. • Set up transport and logistics systems for Russian aluminium industry. Operated transport and port facilities within Russia and for Russian exports. His airline companies were the national cargo airlines of two African countries. • Head of Department at University of Hawaii; visiting professor at several other universities. • Head of research, international affairs for major U.S. trade union; Assistant General Secretary, international union body. Consultant on international political developments for major international corporations, think tanks and private intelligence companies: speciality African politics. • Speaks/reads 12 languages; written six books; published 58 specialist studies. Articles appeared in Economist Intelligence Unit, Wall Street Journal, WPROST (leading Polish weekly news magazine), Pravda and other international news journals. Host and executive producer of three 39-week series on Public Broadcasting. Frequent contributor to TV documentaries. • Editor and publisher of web-based news journal of international relations www.ocnus.net; also distance-learning educational website www.worldtrade.ac. Contact Info: Dr. Gary K. Busch Transport Logistics 23 Drayton Gardens London London SW10 9RY UK phone: +44-20-73739351 fax: +44-845-280-2118 gary.busch@iomartdsl.com

Exxcuzme  # 6 | 22.04.2007 13:11

Who is the writer and what organization does he work for/or where is this article culled from? Admin?

oluye  # 7 | 22.04.2007 13:12

docokwy: What about those who contributed to make the elections a sham with the intent of changing the status quo, shouldn't God punish those people?

oluye  # 8 | 22.04.2007 13:22

Ikechiji, I just saw your last posting, Good, so the writer is a transporter and a politician. We are getting somewhere. Personally I will say we exercise patience before we take his words as gospel truth and allow the transporters that handled the shipping defend themselves. The losers in this elections are not only the politicians, there are a lot of disgruntled contractors(worse, politician contractors) who will want to settle scores and bring themselves into limelight - at Nigeria's expense.

docokwy  # 9 | 22.04.2007 13:34

Anybody involved in this PDP moonslide victory deserves the curse of hell. Obasanjo followed by Iwu and the likes of the compromising INEC state commissioners, police and army officers and the likes of Adedibu, and of course Uba. They should all rot in the hell fire already prep'd for their warped souls.

Odinaka  # 10 | 22.04.2007 13:40

Dr. Gary K. Busch should be ready and willing to substantiate his claims. I hope he takes time to read responses to his articles, and I also hope he has compiled incontrovertible pieces of evidence, if not, he wasn't wise to publish this article.

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