NIGERIA: WHO WAS MARSHALL HARRY?

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000504

SIPDIS


CAIRO FOR POL -- MAXSTADT


E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2013
TAGS: PGOV PINR ASEC KDEM NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: WHO WAS MARSHALL HARRY?


REF: A. ABUJA 00448

B. ABUJA 00449


Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL ROBYN HINSON-JONES. REASON: 1.5 (B & D)


.



1. (U) SUMMARY. Marshall Harry's death on March 5 is the
latest in a series of murders regarded by southern Nigerians
as political assassinations. Harry engendered bitter
rivalries as a notorious power-player and strategist who
aimed to shift power to South-south minorities, including
Rivers State Governor Peter Odili. (See also septel,
"HARRY'S MURDER FLAMES PORT HARCOURT TENSIONS.") END
SUMMARY.


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A THORN IN ODILI'S SIDE
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2. (C) Harry was among the most prominent elite of the
Kalabari southern ethnic minority. His outspoken criticism
and political posturing for South-south ethnic groups put off
or threatened erstwhile allies in politics and business
alike. Harry had ample, well-documented, public animosities.
In December 2001, after alleging that Odili was threatening
to kill him, police arrested Harry. His younger brother (or
cousin) Ipalibo Harry, now the running mate to ANPP Rivers
State gubernatorial candidate Sergeant Awuse, posted 100,000
naira for his bail a few days after the Civil Liberties
Organization protested the detention as a violation of
Harry's freedom of speech. In February 2002, Harry told the
press, "If Odili returns as the governor of Rivers State in
2003, I will pack my bags and go into exile. But I know he
will not win because he doesn't have what it takes to win the
election in Rivers State politics."



3. (C) In contrast to the SSS perspective of the Harry-Odili
relationship mentioned in ref A, Odili displayed at least
once to poloffs his personal ire at the mere mention of
Harry's name. In a 2002 meeting with Odili, Lagos Consul
General asked for his views on Marshall Harry and why Harry
had been imprisoned on his orders. The Governor responded
angrily, demanding to know why the ConGen was wasting time
asking about "worthless criminals" such as Harry. The
suggestion that Harry's detention had been noticed as a
possible human rights issue was enough to send Odili into a
tirade. He said it was "proper" for police to detain Harry
since he had accused the Chief Executive of Rivers State of
plotting to kill hi. This was a "serious accusation that
should not be brushed aside. You cannot accuse the chief
executive of a state without proof. It is a very serious
matter, and the police did the right thing interrogating him."



4. (U) Harry's last days mixed public denunciations of Odili
with praises of ANPP presidential candidate General Mohammed
Buhari. In a press conference covered by the March 4 ThisDay
newspaper, Harry accused Odili of interfering with ANPP's
launch of Buhari's campaign and said he would take his
complaint directly to the Inspector General in Abuja. He
felt victimized over the fee plus deposit of 7.5 million
naira asked of ANPP to secure the Port Harcourt Liberation
Stadium for Buhari's campaign launch on March 8; a few weeks
before, he claimed, the PDP had paid just 800,000 naira for
the same political venue. In a formal complaint addressed on
March 3 to the Rivers State police commissioner, Harry
stated: "Since we started the preparation for the
presidential flag-off campaign, we have noticed a high spate
of arrest, intimidation, harassment, and maiming of our party
officials, candidates, and supporters by Odili's thugs with
the assistance of the Police" (ThisDay, "Harry Petitions
Police, Says Odili to Disrupt ANPP Rally, March 6, 2003). In
the event that the police should "fail" to "protect lives and
property" of the ANPP, Harry said, "we do not lack the will
and capacity to protect our supporters." He went on to
accuse the Rivers government of "buying police and army
uniforms as well as guns and ammunitions to equip their
standing army of murderers for the purpose of rigging the
forth-coming elections."



5. (U) In his last interview with The Guardian newspaper,
printed on March 6, Harry said, "Governor Odili is my friend.
I helped him to be there. He is not my enemy. He is the
one telling people that I am his enemy, but my challenges and
criticism are based on his bad governance. He is not
transparent and he is not honest with the people of the
state. I criticize him based on principle."


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A PIN ON BUHARI'S LAPEL
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6. (U) Harry, determined to bolster a Northern alliance with
South-South minorities, promoted Muhammadu Buhari as a rival
candidate to Obasanjo until his death. Harry told the
Guardian: "It is the president's game to set the minorities
against the North.... We are political allies with the North.
Watch out, each time a northern president is on board, the
oil ministry is given to the southern minorities. This time
Obasanjo gave us the minister of culture so that we should be
dancing around, and he still wants us to dance for another
four years. I have told you that Buhari is down to earth, he
sees the problem of this country. He knows the grave
injustice suffered by the minorities, he knows we feel
subjugated. Buhari would not have done what Obasanjo did in
Odi. The mere fact that people were agitating for a fair
deal out of oil derived from their area, which culminated in
the killing of some policemen, is it enough to sack a whole
village? Buhari is a man who is coming to address the issues
affecting the minorities. I am a minority.... and I believe
in his honest disposition."

7. (U) "Primaries are a military creation to heat up the
system," he said. "It is not a democratic attitude for an
undeveloped nation like ours. If you are talking about
primaries in Britain and America, it is okay. But in
Nigeria, the driving force to play politics is economic
power. Nigerian politicians are driven by economic concern,
and are in politics to amass wealth. In the developed
nations, it is to serve."


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HARRY: THE LONELINESS OF HIS MINORITY POLITICS
-------------- --



8. (C) Harry's political allies-turned-nemeses included most
of Nigeria's top power figures. In 1999 he allegedly
prevented Sergeant Awuse (now his brother's running mate)
from obtaining the PDP's Rivers State gubernatorial ticket.
In December 2001, he told reporters that Odumegwu Ojukwu's
call for Igbo secession was "the cry of a madman." While
chairing Rivers State's PDP chapter, he fought PDP's national
chairman Barnabas Gemade's attempt to extend his term in
power. He founded the "Campaign for the Realization of a
South-South President 2003" (CRESSOP),despite its
implication that incumbent PDP President Obasanjo should not
be reelected to office. When CRESSOP failed to mobilize a
following, it was renamed the Rivers Democratic Movement
(RDM) and is now campaigning against Odili. Harry and six
others (including Don Etiebet, now the ANPP national
chairman) left or were expelled from the PDP after a
protracted battle over the party's direction in 2002. In
April 2002, he said, "Our position is very clear. We believe
in the North. The next president should come from the
South-south, come 2003. We won't vote for Obasanjo." In
July 2002, he accused former vice president Admiral Augustus
Aikhomu and Etiebet himself, arguably his main rival for a
position of power in the party, of hijacking the ANPP in the
South-South for their "hidden agenda." In August 2002, he
called the impeachment proceedings against Obasanjo "long
overdue." His pushing Buhari for the ANPP presidential
candidate "did not seem to go down well with aspirants like
Bekinbo Soberekon and Sam Agwor." Despite all his battles, he
said he had "never been in a party that failed before."



9. (C) So who killed Harry? Since at least 2001, he had
been proclaiming publicly his Hobbesian fear of
assassination. Theories vary from the elaborate to the
banal, including:


--"Fifth columnists attempting to create tension between PDP
and ANPP, hoping to destabilize the elections and pave the
way for the military to step in."
--Machiavellian frame up of Odili by an ANPP player, as Odili
would be the "obvious" suspect due to their prominent feuds.


--Disgruntled ANPP presidential aspirants blocked by Buhari,
whom Harry adamantly supported.
--Unauthorized assassination, such as by the Vikings cult
group in Rivers, which is popularly believed to have strong
ties to the Rivers State government. The murder's Abuja
venue may have been a deliberate attempt to deflect attention
from politics in Rivers.
--None of his political enemies, but one from his prominent
business life instead.
--It was merely an armed robbery gone bad.



10. (C) Rivers State Attorney General Aleruchi Cookey-Gam
confirmed that police investigations "are quietly underway"
both in Rivers and in Abuja. Because the murder took place
in Abuja, she expects any trial will likely take place there.
Toward the investigation's conclusion, she expects her
office will be asked for assistance regarding any arrested
suspects. In the meantime, she anticipates that federal
authorities will lead the way.
HINSON-JONES