God has been kind to us in many ways as individuals, groups and as a Nation and we must remain grateful, prayerful and hopeful. The CBCN has consistently supported and encouraged the Justice Development and Peace/Caritas Nigeria (JDP/Caritas) in observing elections since 1999. The constant encouragement of the CBCN to its faithful, to stand up to their rights and obligations as citizens of Nigeria deserves commendation. It is particularly pertinent to mention the President of the Conference, His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Felix Alaba Job and the Chairman of JDP/Caritas, His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Edra Ukpo, for their consistent efforts at ensuring that the mandate of the CBCN was properly carried out.
Our gratitude also goes to the former Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Rev. Fr. George Ehusani and the incumbent Secretary General, Rev. Fr. Michael Ekpenyong for all their support in this project.

We also appreciate numerous international and local agencies that partnered with JDP/Caritas in the processes and preparations for the observation of the April 2007 elections. They assisted us in trainings, mobilization and other logistics. They include: Misereor/Germany, Cordaid/Netherlands, Trocaire/Ireland, National Democratic Institute (NDI)/ USA, Institute for Democracy (Idasa)/South Africa and Catholic Relief Services (CRS)/ USA.

We are grateful to the members of the Election Steering Committee (ESC): Rev. Frs. Patrick Eyinla, John-Patrick Ngoyi, Martin Onukwuba and Bar. Juliana Nkwap, as well as the members of its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC): Mr. Victor Agbogun, Mrs. Ireti Disu, Mrs. Bunmi Ekundayo, Mr. Chukwuma Ezeala, Rev. Fr.Thaddeus Ihebinike, Mr. Willie Okafor, Mr. Michael Schirmer, Mr. Dominic Taiwo, Kingsley Udo, Dr. Guenter Thie and Mr. Mike Utsaha, who met regularly since December 2005 to articulate effective strategies for observing the elections.

We acknowledge efforts of the various JDP/Caritas Coordinators, staff and volunteers at all levels of JDP/Caritas as well as the 22,000 observers, trained and deployed in 30 States of the Federation and Abuja (FCT). We sympathize with many of our observers who had misfortunes both in the hands of security agencies and party thugs.

We commiserate with the Bishop and coordinator of JDP/Caritas for Bomadi Vicariate and the observers in that area, who were involved in a ghastly motor accident leading to the death of one of the observers and serious injury to some others. Wealso sympathize and commiserate with others who suffered physical injuries ordeath during the exercise. We appreciate the team spirit, which enabled us to carry out the mandate that has given rise to this report.

We express gratitude to our local partners who shared information with us in all aspects of our preparations towards observing the 2007 elections. They include: The Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), Muslim League for Accountability (MULAC), Electoral Reform Network (ERN), and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Our sincere thanks go also to Dr Joseph Nwizarh, Barr Kingsley Ekwem and Barr Jude Illo, all of the Think Tank of the CSN who painstakingly read through the draft. The experience put together should only encourage and inspire us to be more determined and prepared for the elections of 2011.

Rev. Fr. Peter Babangida Audu
Secretary: JDP/Caritas Nigeria
Director: Church and Society Department