Nigeria Elections #4

Only one more day to the presidential elections. All
quiet so far but no doubt the losing parties will make
trouble come next week. After the usual politcal speak
at the official election HQ we went to the ruling
party spokesperson who became hugley irate at some of
the questions posed by the media. At least the media
here is pretty robust with plenty of print and TV
channels albeit a little ropy. We then left
"millionaires av" and went into a nearby township. After
filming a few shots some gangster type approached me
saying I could not take "snaps" without permission of
the chief. He said "hey white man what are you doing
here" I told him to speak to my black boss which soon
kept him quiet.We duly located the chief and he sang
the praises of the ruling party. Not sure why I felt a
feeling of de javu (Spelling not my best point) We
then got an interview with a guy moaning profusely
about the government and the sordid conditions they
live in. Open sewers and no basic water or light. The
kids then latched onto me and where ever I pointed the
camera they would gather and grin. So I organized to
have a shot taken of me with them as you can see. Once
you get to know them they really are friendly people
with the little they have. In town there are these
giant modern corporate buildings of the oil companies
and a twenty minute drive lands you in the slum of
slums. There have been announcements that huge new gas
and oil reserves will be exploited soon. So it appears
the usual...the rich get richer and the poor stay
poor.. One guy told me the reason why Nigerians turn
to corruption etc is because of high levels of
frustration. The churches are of course huge here and
seem to get along with the Mosques. Although there is
a huge one right near our hotel I do not hear the call
to prayers. Pollution and the non existance of
recycling are also problems here, I filmed the
election officials casually dummping massses of
election training manuals on the pavement dump outside
their HQ. People then just burn everything. The city
(Abuja) has really bad air with constant haze and one
person I spoke to considered their city to have clean
air. I guess it is all relative. This is a country of
generators and air cons. The power goes off a few
times a day but no one notices and you simply wait
about thirty seconds for the hotels genies to take
over. Massive generators belch out more fumes outside
any building of vague importance. remember fuel is
cheap by our standards (R3 per liter) What amazes me
is the amount of businnessmen wearing dark suits.With
temperatures in the thirties and high humidity they
are obviously used to the clammy heat. Of course many
also wear the traditional flowing garments. Was given
a book today by an activist we interviewed. It has the
chilling title of "Political Assassinations in
Nigeria" Lists the hundreds that have been killed here
and are still being killed for political reasons. Then
one turns on the TV and the massacre in Virginia is
repeated infinitum. The questions of Americas gun
culture and the violent movies on TV are barely
mentioned. Their main concern is the threat to tighten
gun laws. I digress but am currently in a violent
society where the police commissioner has just
anniuced that they will shoot to kill if anyone takes
them on. On that happy note I will beam this missive
off into the wet night sky of Abuja as a storm hovers
over the city.