NEW VIOLENCE FROM OLD DISPUTE IN OGONILAND

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 001451

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W
STATE FOR INR/AA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV NI
SUBJECT: NEW VIOLENCE FROM OLD DISPUTE IN OGONILAND

Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reason 1.4 (D)


1. (SBU) Communal violence erupted in the Ogoniland region
of Rivers State and claimed additional lives. Daily
newspapers estimated the toll at 22 dead. Ledum Mitee,
President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni
People (MOSOP),said in a September 8 meeting with Consular
staff the actual number was five killed. Mitee also issued a
statement calling for the violence to end.


2. (SBU) The violence was attributed to a dispute dating
back to 2003. Two communities, Gbor-Kaani and Bua-Teyor
Kaani, both in Khana Ward 6 of Rivers State, are in conflict
over the ward's position in the local government council.
There had been agreement for rotational occupancy of the
position by one community and then the other. However, when
time came for the prize to rotate to Bua-Teyor Kaani, the
Gbor-Kaani incumbent refused to honor the arrangement. The
incumbent has since passed away, leaving the position vacant.
The dispute quickly escalated into violence.


3. (C) Comment: This procession from political agreement to
communal violence reveals many of the idiosyncrasies of the
Nigerian political culture. Although the deal rotating the
occupancy of an elected position was extra-constitutional, it
was also a pragmatic attempt to douse the embers between
feuding communities. Sadly this attempt fell victim to
another Nigerian political trait - the abrogation of an
informal agreement by an incumbent more than reluctant to
surrender the staff and rank of his office no matter how
modest that office might be. This behavior, comprising some
of the more troublesome tiles in the Nigerian political
mosaic, unfortunately has and will continue to lead to an
unhealthy number of political squabbles and sometimes brings
with it unnecessary political violence as in the case of
Ogoniland. End comment.
BROWNE