Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABUJA2766
2006-10-18 10:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abuja
Cable title:  

IMPEACHMENT LEADS TO VIOLENCE AND CONFUSION IN

Tags:  PGOV KDEM PHUM KCOR NI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2704
PP RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #2766/01 2911053
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 181053Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7537
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002766 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM KCOR NI
SUBJECT: IMPEACHMENT LEADS TO VIOLENCE AND CONFUSION IN
PLATEAU STATE

REF: A. 2004 ABUJA 00293

B. 2005 ABUJA 02399

C. ABUJA 01860

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Heather Merritt for reasons 1
.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002766

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM KCOR NI
SUBJECT: IMPEACHMENT LEADS TO VIOLENCE AND CONFUSION IN
PLATEAU STATE

REF: A. 2004 ABUJA 00293

B. 2005 ABUJA 02399

C. ABUJA 01860

Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor Heather Merritt for reasons 1
.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Efforts to impeach Governor Joshua Dariye
in Plateau State have exacerbated long simmering intra-state
political rivalries and led to violence. The battle to remove
the divisive and corrupt Dariye has become a proxy battle
about control over local politics, with an eye toward 2007.
With the battle to impeach the governor near a climax, this
episode in Plateau State also forms part of an emerging
national trend in which governors who have opposed President
Obasanjo are the targets of heavy-handed, and
constitutionally questionable efforts to remove them from
office.

-------------- --------------
THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD TO IMPEACHMENT IN PLATEAU STATE
-------------- --------------


2. (U) Plateau State has had a long history of migration
which brought together Nigerians from around the country to
take advantage of educational and commercial opportunities.
This pattern of migration, which brought Hausa from the
North, Ibos from the southeast and Yorubas from the southwest
to live with the dozens of indigenous minority groups has
over time created a delicate balance in which political
competition had to be carefully managed in order to avoid
violence.


3. (U) This careful balance was upset in 2001 when
religious violence broke out over land tenure and the rights
of indigenous settlers. Again in 2004 fighting pitted
Christians against Muslims and led to the deaths of hundreds
of people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands.
President Obasanjo declared a state of emergency and
temporarily removed Governor Dariye and the state legislature
(ref A). The delicate equilibrium was also disturbed in 2003
when Governor Dariye, a member of the ruling People
Democratic Party (PDP) was controversially declared the
winner in his bid to stay in office. Many people in Plateau
believed his opponent won the election, thereby polarizing
the population along ethnic lines. In addition a rivalry with

Deputy Senate President Ibrahim Mantu, a strong supporter of
President Obasanjo, has helped exacerbate tensions along
religious lines in the state.


4. (U) Despite these rivalries, Gov. Dariye was able to
build the support of his 24 member state legislature,
primarily by paying their salaries when the body was
suspended, according to human rights activists who spoke with
Poloff. This support would pay dividends when Dariye ran into
trouble later in 2004 after he was arrested in London for
money laundering (ref B). After jumping bail, Dariye returned
to his post as governor and found support among the state's
legislators.


5. (U) After Dariye's return to Plateau state, the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) opened an
investigation into allegations of corruption by the governor.
The EFCC alleged that in addition to jumping bail for money
laundering, he diverted 10 million USD and failed to disclose
his assets as required by law. Efforts to charge him were
over-ruled by the High Court, which ruled that governors have
immunity from prosecution while in office.


6. (U) Efforts to get the state legislature to impeach
Dariye based on the EFCC investigation were unsuccessful.
Dariye himself claimed in the media that the money he was
alleged to have diverted was moved at the request of
President Obansanjo, who wanted the money for the PDP coffers
for the 2003 election. A state assembly panel which
investigated the charges exonerated Dariye and the
impeachment effort seemed dead.


7. (U) Tension in the state was exacerbated when one of
Govenor Dariye's rivals, Deputy Senate President Mantu, took
the lead at the National Assembly in efforts to secure the
president a third term. The third term bid was very unpopular
in Plateau State and eventually led to 16 members of the
state assembly forming a rival faction of the PDP and
threatening to transfer their allegiance to a newly formed
opposition party. This was later to form the basis of the
legal argument in the renewed efforts to impeach the governor.

-------------- -
CORRUPTION, SELECTIVITY, AND THE RULE OF LAW
-------------- -


ABUJA 00002766 002 OF 002



8. (C) The EFCC has taken the lead in organizing the
impeachment efforts in Plateau State as it did in Oyo,
Bayelsa and Ekiti states. Its agents have conducted the
investigation and compiled the report on which the
impeachment charges are based. According to press reports,
the EFCC has put state assembly members under pressure to act
by also developing cases against them. In Plateau State this
strategy was supplemented by a creative interpretation of the
law, first offered by the EFCC, according to which eight
members of the state assembly could initiate impeachment
proceedings, even without the participation of the remaining
18 members.


9. (U) The eight members in the Presidential faction of the
PDP were brought to the State Assembly in an EFCC van in the
first week in October 2006 according to televised reports.
The EFCC appeared to be stage managing the process, and also
made the initial argument that the remaining 16 seats were
"vacant" because the members had defected to another
political party. In order to reach the two thirds majority
necessary for impeachment, the argument was made that only
six out of the eight State Assembly members still in the PDP
needed to vote for the measure.


10. (U) The Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) subsequently ruled that the seats of members who
changed parties were vacant, despite a restraining order
placed on INEC by the Federal High Court to hold off on
making a judgment until it ruled. The court case is still
pending, thereby calling into question the legality of INEC's
pronouncement


11. (C) While this drama was unfolding, Governor Dariye was
approached by representatives of President Obasanjo who
offered a deal: that he give up all the money in his various
bank accounts and that he resign. This account was provided
to Poloff by Dariye's media spokesman, who said that Dariye
refused the deal. Consequently, the proceedings at the State
Assembly, spearheaded by the EFCC and with the cooperation of
six of the eight remaining members, continued.

-------------- --------------
POLITICAL DIVISIONS, QUESTIONABLE TACTICS LEAD TO VIOLENCE
-------------- --------------


12. (U) As the proceedings moved into high gear during the
second week of October 2006, tension mounted. Legal claims
still pending in the court and a claim by the speaker of the
state house that the process is flawed due to his absence
have further exacerbated the situation.


13. (U) The tensions escalated into violence last week when
a group of people opposed to the impeachment rallied outside
the state assembly in an effort to prevent the members from
meeting on impeachment. Police under the command of the
Commissioner of Police fired into the crowd killing two
people, according to press reports.


14. (C) Contacts in Plateau report a heavy military, police
and security presence in the state, with soldiers under the
command of the 3rd Armored Division of the Nigerian Army
patrolling the streets. The announcement of the impeachment
of the governor of Ekiti State and the announcement of moves
to impeach the governor of Anambra State have also helped
raise tensions in Plateau, and no one believes the current
standoff will be the final word.


15. (C) Comment: The impeachment of Governor Dariye in
Plateau State is part of a troubling trend in which
governors, many of whom are corrupt, are being singled out
for impeachment. The selective nature of the charges detracts
from the legitimate anti-corruption efforts of the EFCC and
creates the appearance that only enemies of the president
will be targeted for impeachment, as some of the most
spectacularly corrupt governors are not being targeted.


16. (C) Comment continued: Additionally, the heavy-handed
and quite possibly illegal methods employed to impeach the
governor of Plateau State and others, most notably the Ekiti
State governor, have recently drawn critical commentary from
the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General,
and the President of the Nigerian Bar Association. Although
it is unclear whether the President is selectively fighting
corruption, acting out a vendetta against those who opposed
his bid for a third term, or making strategic moves in
preparation for 2007, the resulting confusion and violence
detracts from the GON's ability to create an environment
conducive to credible elections.
FUREY