IRI to Present Election Report Before Court of Appeal at Abuja

March 26, 2004

IRI received a subpoena to appear in the Court of Appeal at Abuja. The subpoena required IRI staff to appear in court to present IRI's 2003 Nigeria presidential election observation report on behalf of the plaintiffs in a high-profile civil trial. IRI’s resident country director for Nigeria will appear before the court on March 29, 2004. Other organizations subpoenaed for the same trial included the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the European Commission, and the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a domestic election observation organization.

Plaintiffs in the case are Mohammed Buhari, runner-up in the election, and his All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). The defendants include Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The plaintiffs are challenging the 2003 presidential election results based on irregularities in the voting process. The case has been on-going since May 2003.

Buhari and the ANPP's decision to contest the election results through the courts rather than through violent means is a departure from Nigeria's coup-littered past and a promising sign of democratic development.

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