NIGERIA - OUTREACH ON NEWSWEEK STORY

UNCLAS ABUJA 000771 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR P, PA AND SA/PPD E.O. 12958; N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KISL NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA - OUTREACH ON NEWSWEEK STORY REF: STATE 90992 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR POSTING ON THE INTRANET OR INTERNET. ¶1. (SBU) Post has been pursuing the Newsweek story since it surfaced in the Nigerian press on May 9. Most versions, and all in the beginning, were repeats of foreign media reports of demonstrations/riots in Afghanistan. The Nigerian Government is aware that the story could be used to incite violence, and its media have basically stayed low-key in reporting the Newsweek allegation only as a cause of the Afghan violence. The mainstream private print media has followed suit, and we are now seeing reporting in the same low key on Newsweek's retraction. Post has disseminated the Secretary's statement and then the Newsweek retraction SIPDIS (reftel) widely among the media. ¶2. (SBU) In addition to the GON's caution, we were quite frankly helped by the fact that the large Muslim community in Nigeria is seized with many other issues at the moment, issues that have gained more prominence in Nigeria's media than the Newsweek story. One main Islamist rabblerouser, for example, apparently has been distracted by the latest public battle (septel) between his followers and those of the Sultan of Sokoto, battles that have killed several Nigerians. The Nigerian private-sector media has also been engrossed in reporting efforts by National Assembly legislators to impeach President Obasanjo, Nigeria's very public quest for debt relief, and the arrest and trial for corruption of the Education Minister and Senate President. There have been no demonstrations regarding the Newsweek allegation, and no Nigerian official or Muslim leader has made a public statement about the Newsweek story or about the demonstrations that followed elsewhere. No Nigerian official has raised the issue in private meetings with us either. ¶3. (U) There will be residual damage from the Newsweek allegation. It has entered the popular imagination of Nigerian Muslims. Moreover, it can be used by any Nigerian politico who wants to gain Muslim support by dinging us, even far into the future. The one newspaper that ran Nigerian angles to the Newsweek story was the Triumph, owned by the opposition-run Kano State government. Kano's Governor Shekarau, we note, is the one who prohibited polio immunization in his state on the grounds it was allegedly a western attempt to render Muslims infertile -- allegations against the polio vaccine dredged up from old blogs on U.S. websites. Kano's vaccination ban re-infected countries as far afield from Nigeria as Indonesia. Anyone seeking publicity can dredge up this Newsweek issue down the road to mobilize a demonstration too, most likely against the GON as well as against us. ¶4. (SBU) Although the Triumph has already reported the Newsweek retraction, our CPAO is meeting with editors from that paper and others today May 17 to make the reftel points, and will make the rounds of the electronic media again tomorrow. Post has a strong outreach program to Nigeria's 70 million Muslims, and will continue to emphasize those efforts. FUREY