NIGERIA: TALE OF TWO CONVENTIONS

UNCLAS LAGOS 002640 SIPDIS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - HANDLE ACCORDINGLY LONDON FOR GURNEY, PARIS FOR NEARY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: TALE OF TWO CONVENTIONS REF: LAGOS 2527 ¶1. (U) The Alliance for Democracy (AD) party parted in two when opposing groups held separate national conventions in Lagos and Abuja last week. Plagued by infighting and the controversial self-appointment as party chairman of Ahmed Adamu Abdulkadir, President Obasanjo's Special Advisor on Manufacturing and the Private Sector (reftel),the two conventions disowned each other and thus widened the divide between the Abuja- and Lagos-based party militants. Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not attend either convention because it did not want to legitimize either group before likely court action, and thus neither faction is officially recognized. ¶2. (U) As expected, the Lagos convention elected former Osun State Governor Bisi Akande as National Chairman, and expelled Abdulkadir from the party for alleged anti-party activities. Lagos Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was rumored to have bankrolled the Lagos convention, spoke to the delegates and reportedly vowed that the AD will be "the rallying point for the realignment of the progressive forces...(to) lead Nigeria in a new direction." ¶3. (U) The Abuja convention elected former AD Senate leader Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa as National Chairman. Although Akinfenwa stated he will reconcile the differences in the party, Abuja delegates expelled both former AD National Secretary and party leader in the House of Representatives SIPDIS Chudi Nwike and the secretary of the recently dissolved National Convention Committee, Wunmi Bewaji, from the party for organizing the Lagos convention. GREGOIRE