OGBEH KEPT AS PDP CHAIRMAN, NGIGE AND UBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000014

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/06/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM NI
SUBJECT: OGBEH KEPT AS PDP CHAIRMAN, NGIGE AND UBA
SUSPENDED, NO RESOLUTION TO ANAMBRA VIOLENCE

REF: A. ABUJA 2075 AND PREVIOUS


B. LAGOS 2592 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Tom Furey for Reasons 1.4 (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: President Obasanjo's effort (Ref A) to fire
the ruling PDP's National Chairman, Audu Ogbeh, failed at
least temporarily January 4 with the PDP National Executive
Committee (NEC) keeping Ogbeh, an ally of VP Atiku, but
suspending Governor Chris Ngige and his self-styled godfather
Chris Uba for one month over their role in the protracted
Anambra crisis. A 9-man committee headed by PDP Governor
Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State was set up to investigate
the crisis and report back to the party within 14 days. The
NEC meeting was set up as a test of wills between proxies for
President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku, but the two
worked out a solution before the meeting. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) The anticipated face-off between President Obasanjo
and PDP National Chairman Audu Ogbeh reached an
anti-climactic conclusion yesterday as the ruling People's
Democratic Party's (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC)
met without addressing the issue. The duo surprised party
members and reporters when they arrived at the venue of the
meeting in the President's vehicle and immediately departed
together at the end of the meeting for a private lunch at
Ogbeh's residence. No mention was made of whether Ogbeh
would continue as the PDP National Chairman.


3. (SBU) When the meeting convened, a delegate from Imo State
raised the reported corruption charges against Ogbeh and the
party's NEC, but President Obasanjo cut him short,
maintaining that the matter "has been settled." Farouk B.B.
Farouk, a member of the NEC commented to us that it appeared
Ogbeh would remain as party chairman until the 2005 PDP
convention in December, when a new executive is expected to
be elected.


4. (U) Instead, the NEC members were surprised to learn that
the issue would be the fate of the PDP members embroiled in
the ongoing Anambra crisis. PDP Publicity Secretary Venatius
Ikem told reporters that Ogbeh had never been on the agenda.
Rather he said, "We had one agenda at the meeting and it was
on the Anambra state crisis. As a step towards resolving the
crisis, NEC resolved that the two principal (Anambra PDP)
actors, Governor Chris Ngige and Chris Uba, be suspended from
the party for 30 days."


5. (U) Additionally, a 9-man committee headed by Governor
Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State was set up to investigate
the crisis and report back to the party within 14 days. The
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) also was
asked to submit a report on the Anambra State gubernatorial
elections to the committee.


6. (SBU) The meeting was really a test of wills between the
PDP's two biggest public figures, the President and his Vice
President. Farouk told us that "the two opposing camps have
stockpiled their arsenals and were ready for a showdown when
we received the news that a compromise has been reached."
Only then was the Anambra crisis introduced, he said."


7. (SBU) Acting as Atiku's cat's-paw, Ogbeh was able to gain
the support of a majority of the PDP governors and reached
out to other interest groups within the party opposed to
President Obasanjo, including Dr. Alex Ekwueme (the man who
twice challenged Obasanjo in the PDP presidential primaries
leading to previous elections),Abubakar Rimi (former
Presidential aspirant and Governor of Kano state) and former
Speaker of the House of Representatives Ghali Na'abba. Along
with the NEC, Ogbeh appealed to the assembled members and
convinced them that collectively rebuffing Obasanjo's attack
would serve their interests. "All of you here hold party
positions now. However, if you allow Obasanjo to use you to
remove us from office, you may lose those positions, too,"
Ogbeh reportedly told his colleagues during a private meeting.


8. (SBU) Farouk said that Atiku held private talks with
Obasanjo over the impasse and advised him against removing
Ogbeh at this critical period when the nation is faced with
other crises. He argued that Ogbeh's ouster would further
divide the party's rank and file and endanger the PDP's
survival. Sources said Vice President Atiku, some state
governors, and President's Chief of Staff, General Abdullahi
Mohammed were involved in brokering the truce.


9. (C) According to sources, President Obasanjo decided to
shelve the planned sacking of Ogbeh and his executive
committee when he learned that Ogbeh had more supporters
within the National Working Committee (NWC) than Obasanjo's
men initially thought. On their pointing out that Ogbeh's
tenure would be up at the end of the year, President Obasanjo
relented.


10. (C) Another source said that Obasanjo retreated after
being advised that his insistence on Ogbeh's removal might
snowball into another "political embarrassment" for him.
Obasanjo's associates were concerned that Ogbeh's supporters
would attempt to "disgrace" the President at the meeting and
if he was unsuccessful in removing the party chairman,
Obasanjo's prestige, status and ego would be damaged.


11. (C) COMMENT: Although the ruling PDP has now set up a
committee to investigate the Anambra crisis, that is not
quite the same thing as arresting/prosecuting the
perpetrators of the past months' political violence there --
let alone dealing with the PDP's rigging of the 2003
gubernatorial election that all there now admit. APGA's
candidate was the putative winner (Ref B). It is also
curious that the ruling PDP is asking the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to report to the party,
not the courts, on the 2003 gubernatorial election in
Anambra. INEC is a defendant with Ngige in APGA's court case
against that election, and has vigorously argued in defense
of all its 2003 elections.
FUREY