With more than 29 million users of the internet across Nigeria, election officials and activists are turning to the web

With more than 29 million users of the internet across Nigeria, election officials and activists are turning to the web to monitor the country’s upcoming national elections in early April.

Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, and the chair of the national electoral commission observed the launch of reclaimnaija.net – a website based on the Ushahidi technology developed in Kenya to track activities at polling places nationwide.

Social media has also been called into action.  ReVoDa, a new mobile application from the Enoughis Enough Nigeria coalition, allows citizens to report violence/fraud, police behavior, election staff conduct, etc, from their respective polling units – and from their mobile phones. “ReVoDa turns eligible voters into informal election observers, and allows monitoring organizations to draw conclusions about the legitimacy and accuracy of the elections,” according to the site http://eienigeria.org

Meanwhile, close to a million people were discovered to be double-registered in the just-ended voter registration period, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission.  Those involved will be prosecuted, said INEC chair Attahiru Jega, including some “high profile Nigerians.”

About 73.58 million people registered during the exercise that ended on Feb. 5.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses report more than a dozen deaths and the burning of campaign vehicles in the state of Akwa Ibom stemming from an apparent grudge match between supporters of current president Goodluck Jonathan and candidate Akpan Udoedeghe of an opposition party.