The election observers

An election monitoring mission in Nigeria presents a pathway for peacebuilding

By Kúnlé Adébàjò

Pietro Uzochukwu Macleo had reasons to be worried. Nigeria was holding a tightly contested presidential election and he was coordinating scores of people who would be observing the process across the country. It could get rowdy, or worse, bloody. But what Macleo felt most of all when he woke up that Saturday morning in February 2023 wasn’t fear. It was excitement.

Rotary districts in Nigeria, led by Macleo, obtained accreditation for more than 100 Rotary members to serve as official election observers. Rotarians headed to their assigned polling units in the country’s 36 states and Federal Capital Territory on the mornings of the two general election days, three weeks apart: one, the presidential and national assembly elections, and the other contests for governors and state assembly seats.

Macleo, now 37, knew how important this exercise was. Nigeria has a worrisome history of election violence, and further political instability in the country — Africa’s largest democracy and one of its biggest economies — could have a ripple effect across West Africa and beyond. “I had some concerns about safety and security. But it was more excitement,” he says. “We were making history.”

A history of violence

For most of its first four decades of independence, Nigeria was under military rule and beset by widespread corruption and communal and ethnic violence. After a historic presidential election in 1999, Nigeria introduced democratic reforms. But efforts to share power between large populations of Muslims and Christians and other groups have had halting success, leading to continued tension. Instances and allegations of gross electoral malpractice have not helped. Between the end of military dictatorship and 2019, more than 1,400 people died in election violence.

The 2023 general elections seemed ripe for more unrest. The presidential election, on 25 February, was considered the tightest race since the country restored democratic rule. After Muhammadu Buhari, from the predominantly Muslim north, had served eight years as president, it was widely felt that power should return to the mostly Christian south, but one of the biggest contenders was a candidate from the northeast. Another tinderbox: The ruling party was fielding a presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate who were both Muslims, a first since 1993 for running mates from a major party at the federal level. This fed conspiracy theories suggesting there was a plan to Islamize the country, with some even making false claims that the group’s vice presidential candidate founded Boko Haram, the Muslim militant group in northern Nigeria.

Still, Nigeria had just amended its electoral laws and introduced advanced technology to accredit voters and transmit results, providing hope that these elections would be credible — and peaceful.

Early that morning, Macleo sent out a stream of reminders to the 131 election observers via WhatsApp: Wake up, it’s time. Remember your training. You only have business with election officials and the police. Don’t engage with the media. Don’t engage with voters. Don’t forget to take your own water and snacks.

At 6 a.m., Macleo left home wearing his navy Rotary election observer jacket and green lanyard carrying his election observer ID that he would need to get around restrictions on movement across the country. He picked up a fellow Rotarian — the observers traveled in pairs — and headed to a spacious public primary school in the Garki neighborhood of the capital, Abuja.

From bodybuilder to peacebuilder

Macleo joined Rotary when he was 28, a college student obsessed with bodybuilding. When he attended his first meeting of the Rotary Club of Abuja Wuse II in 2015 wearing a sleeveless, tight-fitting outfit, he felt like the odd one out among the gathering of middle-aged career folk. But he didn’t let that discourage him. “I was instead inspired,” he recalls. “I loved the way they conducted themselves.”

He was studying political science at the University of Abuja and later focused his dissertation on elections, which spurred his interest in leadership and governance. He went on to earn doctorates in peace studies and international relations, and today, Macleo is as passionate about peacebuilding as he once was about bodybuilding.

His research led him to an understanding that the best pathways to peace are holistic, progressive, and inclusive. Rotary could help advance such an approach, he realized, because it already has a large network of individuals who are as driven as he is. “I saw an opportunity where you could mobilize people to address real issues on peace,” he says.

When he became his Rotary club’s president — its youngest — in 2019, he put the focus on projects centered around peacebuilding. That same year, he enrolled in the Institute for Economics and Peace’s Ambassador Program, which helped him see how the eight Pillars of Positive Peace could lead to tangible results in Nigeria.

In 2020, Macleo formed a foundation, which is establishing a network of Positive Peace advocates in Rotary clubs around Nigeria to implement projects. And in 2023, he participated in Rotary’s Positive Peace Activator Program, an intensive learning opportunity for dedicated peacebuilders.

Voter education and election monitoring are not as tangible as drilling a borehole well, equipping a health facility, or building a block of classrooms. Still, Macleo believes they are just as crucial, if not more so. If you can get strong leadership, if people believe their votes are protected and will count, then a government might emerge that will serve effectively and remove the need for a borehole, a hospital bed, and a new block of classrooms in a lot of communities.

Goddy Nnadi, governor of District 9125 during the 2023 elections, agrees. In decades as a member, he has seen Rotary’s work help people in meaningful ways. With the election observation program, he believes Rotary is doing more. “Some see Rotarians as those who impact people,” Nnadi says. “This project impacts the system. The systemic improvement is what the nation needs. The reason is this: If we have a good election, you elect good people, and good people will make the state better.”

All over the world, observers, both domestic and international, help improve the quality of elections. Observers hold authorities accountable, ensure fairness and transparency, build public confidence in the process, deter fraud, and document irregularities — especially crucial in fragile democracies. Their recommendations can lead to improvements in the political process, and their presence builds trust.

“To observers, it’s about the process, not the outcome,” explains Mboho Eno, who leads the Media in National Elections project at the Abuja-based Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development. Nigeria’s civil society organizations deserve credit for progress, Eno says.

Months before the 2023 elections, Rotary districts in Nigeria organized voter education events, including workshops in every state and trainings shared through social and traditional media. They reached over 100,000 people. One of them was Zigwai Tagwai, who attended one of the workshops in September 2022 at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution in Abuja.

Tagwai, a young civic engagement advocate, heard about the program through a network she belongs to on WhatsApp. At the session, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission demonstrated a device being introduced at the general elections that uses biometric data such as facial recognition and fingerprints to verify and accredit voters. Tagwai learned the basics of the reformed electoral process, how best to go about voting, and the responsibilities of citizen observers. She passed this information on to scores of other young people in her network.

The workshop also led Tagwai, who had already completed the IEP curriculum for peace ambassadors, to further engage with the Rotary network. She was accepted into the Positive Peace Activator Program and has since collaborated with Rotary members on peacebuilding activities. “There are shared values,” she says.

That preelection work by Rotary districts, supported by Nnadi and the country’s three other district governors at the time — Omotunde Lawson, Mightyman Aye Dikuro, and Grace Okaro — is what enabled them to meet the criteria to serve as official observers in the 2023 general elections. When they discovered in January 2023 that they had been selected, they put out a call for Rotarians to volunteer. The response was so overwhelming they had to narrow the pool to club presidents and past and present district officers. The Rotary observers went through robust training, collected their identification cards, and eagerly awaited the big day.

An atmosphere of merriment

As Macleo and his partner made their way to their first polling place, they hit an immediate snag: aggressive security that restricted their movement, observer tags or not. By the time they got to the site at a school, they met a large crowd of voters already waiting. When officials finally opened the gate, voters swarmed chaotically inside.

As officials set up materials, Macleo observed someone suspiciously taking pictures of voting items. “I knew from the training with INEC [the election commission] that was not allowed,” he says. Since interacting with voters was prohibited too, he reported the person to security agents.

More than 3,000 voters cast ballots at a dozen polling stations located around the school as roughly 20 security agents stood by to prevent any outbursts of violence. As in many other places, the voting was peaceful, especially during the early hours. There was an atmosphere of merriment. “People brought food and drinks because the queue was long,” Macleo says.

From the school, Macleo moved on to another area of the Garki neighborhood. The crowd there wasn’t as big, and the voting process was better managed. Afterward, he visited a voting site at a post office. By the end of the day, he had observed more than 20 polling stations.

Adama Mohammed had a similar experience. She left home at 7:30 a.m. and didn’t return until after observing the evening Muslim prayer, past 6 p.m. Driving around in her red SUV, she visited at least 23 polling stations in the upscale Maitama area of Abuja, home to foreign embassies, restaurants, and shops. She was constantly on the move, drinking from her water flask and munching on finger foods to replenish her energy. She was excited to soak in as much information as possible. “I didn’t sit down anywhere,” she says.

An Abuja-based lawyer and a member of the Rotary Club of Abuja Maitama, Mohammed says she is driven to advocate for people who need help, especially women and children. She joined Rotary because she saw an opportunity to do this on a bigger scale. She was particularly keen on the election observation project because she was “conscious of the importance of the democratic process and electing good leaders,” she says. She enjoyed connecting with other Rotary election observers across the country through WhatsApp. “I was amazed at the passion and commitment of our members,” she says.

Throughout the day, Rotary members exchanged photos: polling places in Nigeria’s modern urban metropolises and those in rural communities of dirt roads and mud and thatch houses; people waiting in plastic chairs for poll workers to set up, and others tracing a list of voters on a wall. A picture uploaded to WhatsApp by an observer in northeastern Nigeria shows a traditional leader dressed in a white boubou, a flowing garment, and flanked by aides — one stands behind him, holding a ceremonial umbrella so big he has to use both hands.

Rotary election observers often received a warm reception and were seen as a neutral and trusted voice. “I was amazed at the passion and commitment of our members,” Adama Mohammed says. Courtesy of Pietro Uzochukwu Macleo

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Macleo noticed several problems as the day progressed. The distribution of voters was lopsided. One polling place could have over a thousand voters and another steps away would have only 50. After waiting in line for several hours, some voters found out they’d been reassigned to vote someplace else. There wasn’t adequate support for people with physical and visual disabilities, and there were hiccups with uploading the counted results.

While moving from one polling unit to another, Macleo frequently checked the WhatsApp group of observers to see how others were faring. “The BVAS [biometrics] machine has failed to work and the PO [presiding officer] has sent for the technician. Voters waiting,” one observer in Cross River state wrote. Another observer in the city of Yenagoa noted that national election officials had yet to arrive. “Security forces are around. Voters are getting agitated.”

There were updates, too, about the warm reception that Rotarians received. “Voters who knew about Rotary or who have been Rotarians or are currently Rotarians were happy to see Rotary actively involved in supporting a peaceful election,” a member in Abuja wrote. “Exactly,” someone replied. Another Rotarian in Akwa Ibom state observed that he even met people who expressed interest in joining the organization. And voters drew the attention of at least one of the Rotary observers, a member in Niger state, to suspicious activities. “They saw us as neutral and trusted us,” he said.

Among other problems, some voters had to wait until the following day to complete their ballots. And advanced voting technologies, key reasons for hope in the reliability of the results, did not function dependably, observers noted. These observations were shared with the electoral commission and other key stakeholders in an 83-page report, which called it “a ‘successful’ election — however imperfect.”

“You won’t find any partisan information in our report,” Macleo says. “We don’t care about who won or who lost. We were looking out for inclusivity. Was the process inclusive for people living with a disability? Was it inclusive of the aged? Was it inclusive of women? Were the rules and regulations followed? What transpired? Could it trigger conflict?”

Litigation over the presidential election delayed the gubernatorial voting by a week. In the end, Bola Tinubu, the ruling party candidate, was named president.

At the vanguard for peace

After a campaign period marred by a level of political violence comparable to previous years, the election day voting proceeded largely peacefully despite some pockets of violence. Reducing election violence opens the door to peacebuilding, Macleo says, especially among young people, who have sometimes been vulnerable to recruitment by political groups to carry out attacks on candidates, voters, and election commission offices.

Rotary members in Nigeria are working with young people such as these Rotary Youth Leadership Awards attendees to help them avoid being drawn into political violence. Courtesy of Pietro Uzochukwu Macleo

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Rotary districts in Nigeria are now designing a project to create peace education clubs at schools and in communities across the country that could be integrated, Macleo envisions, into Rotaract and Interact clubs. It teaches young people about issues such as cultism, gang violence, peace, tolerance, human rights, civic responsibilities, drug use, cybercrime, and so on.

One of the hopes is that they’ll avoid being drawn into political violence. “The election period opened our eyes to the fact that some actors fan the embers of hate, of disinformation, ethnicity, bias,” Macleo says. “You don’t just start addressing these issues overnight. It has to be systemic. You address the issue to make sure there are no available hands for them to use, and that’s from building capacity for the youth.”

To support the work, Nigerian Rotarians chartered a national chapter of the Rotary Action Group for Peace, with 200 members and more than 2,000 affiliates, including Rotary members, Rotaractors, Rotary Peace Fellows, and others — and with Macleo at the helm.

While funding has been a challenge, Macleo sees great potential, not just in Nigeria, but for peace-loving Rotary members around the world. “By joining Rotary, I saw an opportunity where you could actually mobilize people to address real issues on peace. That was the catch for me,” he says. “We are at the vanguard for the eradication of polio. That’s the same kind of imagination I have for peace.”

This story originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.