NIGERIAN ISLAMIC LEADERSHIP RELUCTANTLY SUPPORTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001327

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINR KISL NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN ISLAMIC LEADERSHIP RELUCTANTLY SUPPORTS
YAR'ADUA


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Classified By: Political Counselor Russell J. Hanks for reasons 1.4 (b
& d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: PolOff met on June 19 with the Secretary
General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs
(NSCIA) Dr. Lateef Adegbite to discuss Nigerian Islamic
leadership support for President Yar'Adua and Nigeria's
participation in the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(OIC),for which the NSCIA has pressed since its founding in

1973. Although the NSCIA, speaking on behalf of the
principal Nigerian Muslim leaders from around the country,
expressed reluctant support for Yar'Adua and promised to work
with him in the interests of the Nigerian people, Adegbite
noted that such cooperation was contingent on Yar'Adua
"proving" himself a capable leader, worthy of loyalty. He
added that the NSCIA would work to capitalize upon the fact
that Yar'Adua was a Muslim to "compel" him to more actively
rally around Islamic causes, including more vigorous
participation in the OIC. Yar'Adua is acutely aware that he
lacks popular legitimacy, and by courting religious leaders,
he hopes possibly to garner some semblance of credibility
with an influential sector of Nigerian society. The Islamic
leadership, for its part, is, on the one hand going through
the motions in a country where religion is so elemental and
ubiquitous and, on the other hand, lobbying to make certain
it remains visible and relevant. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) NSCIA President and the Sultan of Sokoto Mohammed
Sa'ad Abubakar accompanied by a sixty five-member delegation
of Nigeria's most prominent Islamic leadership paid a June 18
courtesy call on President Umaru Yar'Adua. In his remarks,
Sultan Abubakar congratulated Yar'Adua on his election to
office and pledged the support of the Sultanate and Nigeria's
Islamic leadership. (Note: Complete text of Sultan's remarks
available via email request.) In response, Dr. Adegbite
confided that President Yar'Adua thanked the Sultan for his
support and promised him that he would act on his advice. He
also vowed to support the newly-established National Hajj
Commission, which obligates the Government of Nigeria to help
finance and organize the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Yar'Adua did not, however, broach the issue of electoral
reforms or the electoral tribunals when asked by the Sultan.



3. (C) Adegbite asserted that Nigeria's Islamic leadership
supports Yar'Adua, albeit reluctantly. He agreed that the
elections were "seriously flawed" and a major
"disappointment" but was resigned to the fact that religious
leaders must "do business with whoever is in the saddle." He
added that the election of a Muslim president from the North
was a "foregone conclusion." Though the issue was not wholly
about who was in power, but rather "how he got there," Muslim
leaders like the Nigerian population at large are "helpless"
to do anything about it. While Yar'Adua is perceived to be
an "Obasanjo puppet," Adegbite opined, in the interest of
public safety, his election "will not be challenged by the
Islamic leadership." He expected Yar'Adua to "fully concede
and support" Muslim causes during his tenure, noting at the
same time that the Government has historically been careful
to balance religious sensibilities in Nigeria. The June 18
meeting was not the first such meeting between Muslim leaders
and President Yar'Adua. Other prominent Islamic leaders,
including the Assembly of Muslims in Nigeria Chairman Shaykh
Sharif Al-Hussaini, met with Yar'Adua on June 11 to show
their support for the new president. Adegbite dismissed the
June 11 meeting as "unfortunate", calling Shaykh Al-Hussaini
and other attendees "charlatans" and "non-mainstream."


4. (C) When asked about Nigeria's participation in the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC),Dr. Adegbite
contended that the NSCIA was instrumental in persuading the
Government of Nigeria (GON) to apply for OIC member status in

2005. He noted that since the founding of the OIC, Nigeria's
Islamic leadership has been exhorting the GON to apply for
full membership in recognition of Nigeria's burgeoning Muslim
population, geopolitical importance in Africa, and protracted
relationship with the Arab Muslim world. Successive
administrations refused to concede, claiming that they did
not want to undermine Nigeria's secular character and upset
the religious sensibilities of its equally significant
Christian population. In 1986, Ibrahim Babangida dispatched
Minister of Petroleum Resources Ridwan Luqman to attend an

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OIC Foreign Ministers meeting in Morocco. The decision to
send a high-level representative to the OIC sparked
widespread protests from Nigerian Christian leaders, who
believed that such a move infringed upon the secular
perimeters of the Nigerian Constitution. The meeting
resulted in Nigeria achieving full membership, though
Adegbite cautions that "this was on paper only."


5. (C) The NSCIA praised President Obasanjo for "making
concessions to the Muslims" by pledging to make Nigeria's OIC
membership more active and tangible, as evidenced by
Obasanjo's endorsement of the Finance Ministry's
recommendation to borrow funds from the Islamic Development
Bank (IDB),a division of the OIC Finance Subcommittee. In
2005, as an OIC member, Nigeria became eligible to receive
IDB funding. Minister of Finance Ngozi Onkonjo-Iweala in May
2006 brokered an agreement with the IDB, entitling the GON to
400 million USD in interest-free loans. With the election of
a northern Muslim president, the NSCIA believes, Adegbite
noted, that they can "compel" President Yar'Adua to rally
around Islamic causes. Adegbite disclosed that the NSCIA
will soon push Yar'Adua to attend the OIC Conference of Heads
of State and Government when it convenes in late 2007,
thereby potentially representing the first time a Nigerian
Head of State has attended the OIC.


6. (C) COMMENT: Clearly, Yar'Adua is aware of his tenuous
claim to the presidency. His courting of religious leaders,
particularly Muslim leaders, demonstrates his ability to
co-opt and exploit the Nigerian Islamic leadership, as past
Nigerian Heads of State have routinely done. It remains to
be seen whether these Muslim leaders can concomitantly
exploit their proximity to the President. That two separate
Muslim delegations visited the President on June 11 and 18
reveals erstwhile fissures in the ranks of the Muslim
leadership. The NSCIA's support for Yar'Adua is expected and
unsurprising since as its President the Sultan ) who
receives federal and state funds to finance the Emirate
Council and maintain the Sultan's Palace in Sokoto ) is a
patron of the Government. At the same time, however, the
NSCIA and other Islamic organizations speak, at least in
theory, for Nigeria's Muslim population. By addressing
Yar'Adua, thereby conferring legitimacy on his presidency,
the Nigerian Islamic leadership also hopes to convince
Nigeria's Muslims to do the same, dissuading them from acting
out against what many of them perceive to be an illegitimate
government. END COMMENT.
CAMPBELL