Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03ABUJA1707
2003-10-06 06:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abuja
Cable title:  

BUHARI GETS HIS (FIRST) DAY IN COURT

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM NI 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

060647Z Oct 03
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001707 

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM NI
SUBJECT: BUHARI GETS HIS (FIRST) DAY IN COURT


Classified by Counselor James Maxstadt for Reasons 1.5 (B &
D).


C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001707

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM NI
SUBJECT: BUHARI GETS HIS (FIRST) DAY IN COURT


Classified by Counselor James Maxstadt for Reasons 1.5 (B &
D).



1. (C) Summary: The first day of substantive arguments at
the Federal Appeals Court in losing ANPP presidential
candidate Buhari's suit against the April 19 elections did
not go well for the President's and election commission's
attorneys. The Chairman of the tribunal explained away a
visit of three of the justices to the President just before
the court last adjourned, and offered to withdraw from the
case. Buhari's lawyer declined the offer and produced a
witness, the ANPP Governor of Ogun State, who showed that the
announced results in Ogun and the polling station tally
sheets from which they should have been tabulated could not
be reconciled. The election commission INEC announced that
it would need "a few more months" to produce documents from
which the announced results in Ogun were produced, documents
that had been subpoenaed in May, and the court adjourned
until October 6 while admonishing INEC to provide the
documents. While few Nigerians believe that the court will
ultimately base its decisions on the merits of the case, its
professionalism at this first hearing restored some of the
reputation lost by lower courts' handling of the election
challenge to date. End Summary.



2. (U) Security was tight in Abuja on September 25 as the
Federal Appeals Court opened the first day of substantive
arguments in ANPP presidential candidate Buhari's electoral
appeal against President Obasanjo's victory in the April 19
elections. Poloff who attended saw over 300 armed police,
accompanied by armored personnel carriers, patrolling Abuja's
central district. At least 100 armed police were stationed
on the approach to the temporary chambers of the Court. A
rally by several hundred motorcycle riders blocked traffic
near the Hilton Hotel, where ANPP supporters (mistakenly)
thought Buhari had spent the previous night. En route to the
court, dozens of would-be observers were turned away for no
other reason than they "appeared to be" ANPP supporters.
Still, several hundred managed to get through the security
cordon to jam the courtroom and the grounds.



3. (U) Inside the courtroom, which had earlier been

refurbished and air-conditioned in anticipation that
President Obasanjo might appear, the Chairman of the
five-judge panel, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, opened by
explaining the visit of himself and two other judges to the
President on the evening after the last sitting of the court.
Abdullahi said the visit, widely criticized in the press,
was merely to discuss issues relating to the construction of
a permanent site for the Appeals court. After giving his
explanation, Justice Abdullahi offered on behalf of the
tribunal to withdraw from the case.



4. (U) Perhaps buoyed by several recent favorable decisions
at the Supreme Court, ANPP lead counsel Mike Ahamba said that
the incident did not "shake the confidence that Buhari and
the ANPP have in the court." Chief Afe Babalola, counsel for
the President, then complained that the journalist who had
reported the presidential meeting story in the press should
be brought before the court to reveal the source. If the
story was true, he said, then the Justices involved should
withdraw. The attorney for Nigeria's "Independent National
Election Commission" (INEC),also a respondent to Buhari's
suit against its election results, seconded Babalola's
request that the journalist be interrogated.



5. (U) The first witness for the ANPP was its gubernatorial
candidate from Ogun State, Bisi Lawal. Starting slowly,
Lawal presented a poor image and made little impression on
the judges. As he gathered confidence, however, Ahamba was
able to lead him to the points the Buhari team wanted to
introduce. Lawal testified that the majority of the ANPP
poll agents in Ogun state were denied access to the polling
stations "by the security services, INEC poll officials and
(ruling party) PDP agents." Lawal claimed that out of 3410
polling stations in Ogun state, ANPP agents were allowed into
142, and he produced the polling station tally sheets for
these sites. Babalola objected that the tally sheets could
not be evidence since "the INEC-announced figures were the
only officially recognized results." The tribunal ignored
this, and Lawal showed that Buhari had received a total of
1,547 votes from these sheets. Lawal then noted that that
total was more than twice the 680 votes announced by INEC for
Buhari state-wide. Lawal also contended that he has barred
from the state collation center (i.e. INEC's Headquarters in
Ogun state) during the count and that no announcement of
results was issued in Ogun. "I heard the results three days
later from Abuja," he testified.



6. (U) At this point Ahamba suggested that it was pointless
to continue questioning Lawal since INEC had not produced
election documents that had been subpoenaed at the
preliminary hearings in May. INEC attorney Joe Gadzama told
the court that the documents request was onerous. He
suggested that INEC should be able to produce the documents
supporting the elections results in "a few months,"
complaining that INEC had various logistical problems
collecting the forms, including that INEC did not have the
budget to rent the trucks necessary to transport the
documents. Buhari attorney Ahamba responded that the
documents requested amounted to approximately 25 sheets of
paper and asked why trucks would be necessary. Justices
Tambayi and Oguntade took exception to INEC's not producing
the documents, and warned Gadzama to "be more responsive."
Gadzama promised to discuss the issue with his client INEC,
but added that he did not know if he was authorized to speak
for INEC. Justice Abdullahi asked him who might be
authorized other than INEC's attorney of record. Abdullahi
then adjourned the court until October 6 and advised INEC to
be prepared to produce the requested documents.



7. (C) COMMENT: The tone of the first substantive sitting
of the Federal Court of Appeals was not very favorable to
Obasanjo and the INEC that certified his victory. The
justices took exception to Obasanjo attorney Babalola's lack
of professionalism and INEC attorney Gadzama's lack of
responsiveness. It appeared Babalola had not done his
homework and was unprepared to argue the case on its merits.
The ANPP's team, on the other hand, were ready with
citations of legal precedents and examples of alleged
malfeasance in the election process. They started slow with
the first witness, but seemed to gain some measure of
confidence as the day progressed. Their tactic of not
including Obasanjo's PDP party in the suit was intended to
underscore their contention that the President, INEC and the
security services -- not rough and tumble politics in a new
democracy -- were responsible for the irregularities.
Beginning their challenge with the election results from the
President's home state was calculated to send the message
that they viewed no area as out of bounds in their
presentation. The clear winner in this first sitting,
however, was the Court, which conducted itself professionally
and appeared to be intent on hearing substantive issues
rather than engaging in diversionary debates.
MEECE