OBASANJO DROPS FOUR MINISTERS, FOUR SENIOR ADVISORS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001365

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2011
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON NI
SUBJECT: OBASANJO DROPS FOUR MINISTERS, FOUR SENIOR ADVISORS

REF: A. ABUJA 1312

B. ABUJA 0201


Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, reasons 1.5(B/D)


Summary
--------------

1. (C) On June 12, President Obasanjo dropped four Ministers
and four Senior Advisors from his Administration, one
spokesman framing the changes in terms of "accountability,
performance, and integrity." So far, three replacements have
been named for the Ministers, none for the Advisors. It
appears that two Ministers fell due to on-going feuds with
their home state Governors, the two others due to lack of
performance. Similarly, two advisors fell for poor
performance, one for tensions with his Governor, and one for
medical reasons. Overall, the changes represent a modest
repositioning of the Administration's focus on delivering
real benefits to Nigerians, and replacing those who threaten
harmonious relations with state executives essential to
re-election bids in 2003. End Summary.



2. (U) On June 12, in a surprise evening statement issued by
the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ufot
Ekaette, the Obasanjo Administration announced that four
Ministers and four Senior Advisors had been dropped: Minister
of Water Resources Col. (Ret.) Mohammed Kaliel; Minister of
Communications Mohammed Arzika; Minister of State for the
Federal Capital Territory Solomon Ewuga; Minister of State
for Power and Steel Danjuma Goje; Special Advisor for
Economic Affairs Phillip Asiodu; Special Advisor for
International Relations Dr. Patrick Dele-Cole; Senior Special
Assistant for Drugs and Financial Crimes Dr. Irahim Lame, and
Special Assistant for Special Duties Dr. Bukola Saraki.


Three Dropped for Feuding
--------------

3. (C) Several sources within the Presidency confirmed to us
the dismissal from the Administration of officials who had
been quarreling with their home state Governors, a notable
offense in contemporary Nigerian politics, even where the
Governor in question is of an opposition political party.
According to Minister of Information Jerry Gana, who met with
Poloff June 14, both Ministers of State, Solomon Ewuga and
Danjuma Goje, fell due to on-going disputes with their
Governors (Abdullahi Adamu of Nassarawa (PDP) and Abubakar
Hashidu of Gombe (APP),respectively). Gana noted that he
had personally tried to intercede several times in Nassarawa,
considering both men to be "friends," but had not succeeded
in reconciling them. Ewuga had been elected as Deputy
Governor under Adamu under the banner of the ruling People's
Democratic Party in 1999, and the two men had "fought"
continually ever since, Gana noted. He also briefly noted
that Goje had very sour relations with the Gombe State
Governor, a member of the opposition All People's Democratic
Party. Among the Advisors, Gana named Dr. Lame as one guilty
of quite poor relations with Governor Adamu Mu'azu of Bauchi
State (PDP). A senior Presidency official made similar
comments to DCM the evening of June 13, saying that Obasanjo
had twice admonished Ministers to "respect the Governors'
executive authority." Said Gana, summing up the nature of
the offense: "Governors have a stronger voice." (Comment:
Several APP Governors-elect, including Hashidu of Gombe,
quietly swung their states behind Obasanjo in the 1999
Presidential elections. End Comment).


Four Canned for Poor Performance
--------------

4. (C) Gana cited Minister Kaliel of Water Resources and
Minister Arzika of Communications for particularly poor
performance (Adobe Obe, Special Assistant to President
Obasanjo, echoed this assessment in a separate conversation).
He noted that the President, and indeed the entire Federal
Executive Council (the Nigerian Cabinet) had been incensed at
the lack of any real progress on water projects nation-wide
from the Federal Government. "The State Governments are
delivering," said Gana, "but we do nothing." Two months ago,
said Gana, the President delivered an ultimatum to Kaliel:
show results on the ground or face dismissal. The earlier
pledge by the Obasanjo Administration to complete at least
two borehole projects in each of the nation's 774 local
government councils would be the test. Said Gana, "they did
little or nothing since then."



5. (C) Alluding to rampant corruption in the Ministry, Gana
then said that "they exercised very poor oversight," and
"fell in with the wrong crowd of contractors." Many
contracts went no further than the collection of
"mobilization fees" by contractors, who took the start-up
money and "disappeared." Gana also briefly noted that Arzika
had never made any progress in updating the nation's
telecommunications infrastructure (sources at the Central
Bank also told Econoff June 14 that he resolutely opposed
privatization of NITEL, the telephone parastatal). Gana put
the failings of the two Ministers this way: "Lights, phones,
water; those three things we must do. The guys at Power and
Steel are making some progress. These guys did not."

6. (C) Gana then commented briefly on the performance of
Phillip Asiodu. Agreeing that Asiodu had been warring with
the office of the Vice President for months, he said Asiodu
was "out of touch, out of date, unable to keep up." Former
Chief of Staff to Asiodu, Chief Akindele, told Poloff June 13
that Asiodu's dismissal had been pending for several months,
and that the "friction" with the Vice President had never
been dealt with properly. "Asiodu did not manage his
relationship with the Vice President." Akindele also noted
that "the Vice President's office duplicated everything we
were doing," leaving little independence to Asiodu's
operations. (Comment: The Office of the Vice President has
broad supervisory authority on privatization and deregulation
efforts, in conjunction with the Bureau of Public Enterprises
(BPE). End Comment). Akindele, who resigned two months ago,
said that, "the President told me himself when I left that he
would fire Asiodu soon." Econoff received similar messages
from Akindele and BPE's Nasir Al-Rufai in recent weeks. In
fact, at one point, Econoff was asked by advisors to both
Asiodu and the Vice President to "back" their principals for
the lead on bilateral economic relations with the USG.



7. (C) Similarly, Special Assistant Bukola Saraki, Gana
said, had been dismissed for performance well below that
expected by the President. Gana said Saraki (son of APP
power-broker Olusola Saraki) had formed part of a "crack"
intelligence unit within the Presidency, a unit intended to
be "the eyes and ears" of the President, focusing on field
oversight of Ministerial performance. The President wanted
to be able to puncture the performance claims of Ministers
with his own gimlet-eyed reports on their supposed
achievements, but the unit "mainly stayed in the office," and
never functioned as intended, Gana said.


One Dropped for Health Reasons
--------------

8. (C) Gana said that Special Advisor for International
Affairs Dr. Patrick Dele-Cole was the one official dropped
for purely personal reasons, due to his failing health. Dele
Cole (long known to be exhausted by the long hours and fast
pace in the immediate vicinity of the President) had
developed an embarrassing tendency to drift off to sleep in
meetings with foreign Heads of State. Chairman of the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs Adamu Bulkachuwa also mentioned
this to Poloff June 13. (From our own experience, Dele-Cole
fell into a noisy slumber in four separate meetings during
Obasanjo,s recent Washington visit, to the palpably deep
embarrassment of his Nigerian colleagues). Gana said
Dele-Cole needed surgery for the condition, which involved an
inability to sleep when prostrate. "Some sort of nasal
blockage," Gana said.


The Time for Plans is Over: We Need Results
--------------

9. (C) Gana finished by saying that hard work, good plans
and the best of intentions on the part of Ministers and
Advisors were no longer enough. "We need results." The
President and others in the Administration were keenly aware
that Nigerians wanted to see their lives getting better
"now." What they see, he said candidly, is "high prices, gas
lines, no water." Gana suggested that the present changes in
the Administration's personnel would likely "not be the only
ones," as the President was determined to find the "right
mix" and "make things happen."


Three Replacements Named
--------------

10. (C) The Obasanjo team submitted three nominations for
the four vacated Ministerial posts, former Customs Controller
General Bello Mohammed, former Sokoto Attorney General
Mukhtari Shagari (son of former Head of State Shehu Shagari)
and businessman Murtala Aliyu. They will likely replace
Arzika at Communications, Kaliel at Water Resources and Goje
at Power and Steel, respectively (in Nigerian practice,
nominations are never made for particular positions, but the
usual protocol is to replace one state's failed Minister with
a resident of the same state). No nominations have yet been
submitted for the Advisor positions (the Special Advisor
positions also require Senate confirmation). In
conversations with DCM June 13, Senate President Anyim Pius
Anyim said that no Minister of State would be nominated for
the FCT, as the senior Minister, Abba-Gana, would be given
time to "make his mark" on his own (he has been in office
since the last Cabinet shake-up in February. Reftel).


Comment
--------------

11. (C) The Obasanjo Administration's small Cabinet shake-up
reflects a growing realization that measurable results are
increasingly important as it begins its third year in office,
an imperative we highlighted in our review of the
Administration's first two years, Ref A. Nasir Al-Rufai
previously identified Asiodu and Arzika to us as two of the
five ministers most opposed to privatization; we may now see
a modest quickening of the move toward privatized state
entities. Dropping Ministers and others who clash with their
home state Governors also reflects the premium value Obasanjo
places on good relations with the nation's 36 state
Governors, who are now real players on the national political
scene, and a growing political phenomenon. The Governors'
good wishes (or at least tolerance) are essential to any
Presidential nominee's chances in 2003.



12. (C) Comment Continued. Unfortunately, geo-political
balancing requires that state and regional interests often
take precedence over acumen and experience: we will now
likely have a lawyer at Water Resources, a retired Customs
official at Communications, and a businessman at Power and
Steel (this last making the most sense to us in terms of
actual experience). The need for results once again
conflicts at least in part with the need to shore up
political support and maintain the carefully negotiated
parceling out of senior government positions. Real progress
for average Nigerians may not be the result. End Comment.


Jeter