POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY STILL REIGNS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 003289 SIPDIS SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (CLASSIFICATION MARKINGS) E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2007 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM PREL NI SUBJECT: POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY STILL REIGNS REF: A. LAGOS 1446 ¶B. ABUJA 3247 ABUJA 00003289 001.4 OF 003 Classified By: Charge d' Affairs Tom Furey for reason 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: One week after the end of the political party presidential nomination season, Nigeria remains mired in uncertainty. One day after the Vice President picked up the presidential nomination for the Action Congress (AC) on December 21, President Obasanjo declared the Office of the Vice President vacant, although the constitutionality of the declaration remains in question. Vice President Atiku, who is vacationing in the United States, claimed in an interview with VOA on December 27 that he has not vacated his office, and the party and its leadership have no legal power to remove him. In reaction, he plans to file for an injunction and to ask the court to examine the issue. He said that he plans to return to Nigeria at the conclusion of his vacation. Meanwhile, there is pressure on the Nigerian National Assembly to return from recess and begin discussion on the controversy, because the constitution grants it the explicit power of impeachment. End Summary. PRESIDENT OBASANJO MAKES HIS MOVE -------------- ¶2. (U) At the National Executive Council meeting on December 22, President Obasanjo declared that the position of vice-president was vacant after Vice President Atiku accepted the nomination of the AC in Lagos (ref A). By accepting the nomination of another party, the President argued, Atiku had, in effect, switched parties, leaving his seat vacant. Within hours of the announcement, President Obasanjo had also announced that he was withdrawing the vice president's privileges. including the use of the government jet, which he had planned to use in his travel to the United States. The denial of the plane led to Atiku, instead, buying a British Airlines ticket for his travel to the United States. The President also subsequently announced that some of his security detail had been withdrawn. The Vanguard newspaper also reported on Dec 25 that the Federal government was making plans to arrest and prosecute the vice president when he returns from his trip abroad. ¶3. (C) Atiku was well prepared for the consequences of accepting the AC nomination, although he was worried about the consequences (ref B). Prior to accepting the nomination, his team of lawyers were poised to file a motion on December 27 with the Abuja High Court to hear the case. The vice-president also removed his personal belongings out of his official residence prior to his departure to the United States, according to one of his former speech writers. He has also begun a public relations and legal campaign. Last weekend he wrote to the National Assembly and the Abuja High Court, maintaining that he remains vice president. He has also given numerous interviews, including one with VOA on December 27. ¶4. (U) Atiku's strategy relies heavily on court intervention. He has assembled a formidable team of lawyers who have provided advice, and plans aggressive challenges in the courts. On Friday December 22, the Federal High Court in Abuja voided the criminal trial of the vice president by the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). The court in its ruling set aside the 18-count charge which had formed the basis for his early suspension from the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). REACTION TO THE CONFUSION -------------- ¶5. (C) The current controversy comes at a time when Nigeria typically shuts down with three major holidays (Christmas, Eid and New Year's Day). The Nigerian National Assembly is scheduled to return from recess to discuss the status of the vice-president on January 16. Pressure, however is building to call an emergency session prior to that, perhaps on January 9. Senator Umaru Dahiru (ANPP-Sokoto),and Vice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC said that members are rallying around both the institution and its leadership. He said that there is a sense among members that the President has no legal or constitutional authority to declare the vice presidency vacant. The responsibility for ABUJA 00003289 002.4 OF 003 removal of the vice president via impeachment rests with the National Assembly, Dahiru said. ¶6. (C) Dahiru also said that according to Senate rules, the body is precluded from discussing issues which are before the courts. It is not clear when the court will act on the petition once its receives it from the vice president. Although the standing rules would apply to the status of the vice president, Dahiru said he expects some ruling party members to attempt to bring up the issue when the Assembly returns. The only way discussion could happen would be if the Senate agreed to suspend the rules. If that happens, the 2007 Movement, an anti- Obasanjo coalition of members who worked against the third term, plan to take the opportunity to begin discussion of impeaching the President. "Just let the President try us and see what happens," Dahiru said. POLITICAL VIOLENCE STILL PREVALENT -------------- ¶7. (U) In this climate of political uncertainty violence remains a constant. Sometimes the violence appears to be linked to the feud between the president and vice president. On December 21, for example, an aid to the vice-president, Umar Pariya, had his Abuja house broken into. The only things stolen were documents and computers. ¶8. (U) On many more occasions the violence stems from a local tussle for power. On December, 1, in Benue State a House of Assembly aspirant on the platform of the PDP, Hon Ageba Utah was murdered in front of his residence in Gboko. In Aliade also in Benue state a riot which left 10 people dead erupted following the declaration of results of the PDP House of Assembly primaries. The uprising, according to press reports, was as a result of imposition of candidates by the incumbent PDP government in Benue. ¶9. (U) In Lagos State, the campaign Coordinator of the PDP governorship candidate for the State, Chief Musiliu Obanikoro, Ibrahim Bakare was reportedly assassinated in Lagos on December 18, 2006. There have also been series of bombings in the southern Nigeria believed to be politically motivated. The campaign offices of Governor Goodluck Jonathan of Bayelsa state and Chief Ndudi Elumelu, both of them PDP candidates were reportedly bombed on December 5 and 28 respectively. There were also reports of other explosions in the Niger Delta during the PDP primaries. ¶10. (U) And in this environment often it is hard to tell an accident from random crime. The most high profile case involves Godwin Agbroko, the editor of Nigeria's most influential daily newspaper, This Day, who died at the hand of armed robbers on December 22. Although there are no suspects in the case, his newspaper reported that his personal items were not taken, raising in the eyes of many of the paper's readers that the crime was more than just random violence. The Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Honorable Usman Jikantoro died in a car accident, although many people in the state believe he was deliberately killed. PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS STILL FLUID -------------- ¶11. (U) The major political parties have all sent their presidential and vice presidential nominations to the Independent Electoral Commission in accordance with the electoral law. But the law also includes a provision which give each party until mid-February to substitute the names of presidential or vice-presidential candidates. In the cases of the AC, which nominated Atiku for president and Chief Chudi Nweke for vice president and the ANPP which nominated Buhari for president and Chief Edwin Umeh Ezeoke for vice president, it is likely that the parties will substitute names for president and vice president, if they can agree on a joint slate. ¶12. (C) There are rumors circulating that the PDP will also avail itself of the escape clause to reconfigure its ticket. The rumor mill suggests that the reaction to Umaru Yar'Adua has been so negative that it is possible that the President will substitute another candidate. There have been no public declarations by the President indicating that such a move is in the works. But if Yar'Adua's trip last week to Kano is an ABUJA 00003289 003.4 OF 003 indication of things to come, (his convoy was harassed, youths threw stones and shouted Bamaso, we don't want you, while returning to Katsina from Kano, leaving seven of the vehicles with broken windows, two eyewitnesses told Polcouns),he will need to work hard to convince at least part of his base that he not a tool of the president. COMMENT -------------- ¶13. (C) The political situation on the ground remains tense and confused. With the showdown between the president and vice-president apparently near a denouement, it is not clear who will blink first. Significant legal and constitutional issues are in play although it is not clear what the courts or the Nigerian National Assembly will ultimately decide to do. Regardless of the legal disposition of the outstanding political questions, the feud between the president and the vice president remains Nigeria's most critical short-term political issue. When, and if Atiku decides to return to Nigeria, we are likely to witness the final round in this long and destructive bout, which has become Nigeria's main event. FUREY