NIGERIAN PRESIDENT YAR'ADUA: "GO-SLOW" BY NATURE?

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002333 SIPDIS SIPDIS DOE FOR CAROLYN GAY E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2017 TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM NI SUBJECT: NIGERIAN PRESIDENT YAR'ADUA: "GO-SLOW" BY NATURE? REF: ABUJA 1693 Classified By: Political Counselor Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b & d). ¶1. (C) Polcouns and Poloffs met November 2 with Kabiru Turaki (strictly protect),a distinguished private practice lawyer with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a member of the legal team handling President Yar'Adua's defense at the presidential election tribunal. Though Turaki praised Yar'Adua's intelligence and integrity, he complained that President Yar'Adua is "not vibrant" and is "overcautious." He noted that the President is not a traditional politician and questioned whether his experience as Katsina governor had sufficiently prepared him to lead the nation. Turaki noted that Yar'Adua had been relatively isolated as Governor of Katsina and he did not build the extensive contact/patronage networks that are the lifeblood of Nigerian politics. The President does not therefore have dozens of henchmen in each state to call upon when he needs assistance now. Turaki was also critical of Yar'Adua's "go slow" tendency. He opined that a leader needs to be able to make up his mind quickly in order to be effective. Per Turaki, President Yar'Adua lets his aides brief on various subjects and then delays making decisions, asking for additional time to consider what actions to take. Turaki complained that this tendency to long deliberation impedes business at the Villa. He believes that President Yar'Adua is slow to act by nature, rather than due to an abundance of caution caused by his less than credible election. ¶2. (C) Comment: Kabiru Turaki is a self-professed PDP loyalist and politician. At one stage, he was a PDP gubernatorial candidate in Kebbi State (reftel). He meets regularly with the President as a member of his legal team and is confident that the presidential election is in no jeopardy of being overturned due to the incredibly high burden of proof for petitioners alleging fraud at the tribunal (septel). The legal team has kept the President apprised of the strength of his case and, per Turaki, Yar'Adua should therefore have no reason to fear losing office. Turaki's observation that President Yar'Adua is "go-slow" by temperament contradicts what we have heard from other interlocutors, who have speculated that Yar'Adua will become more efficient and effective once the tribunal cases against him are resolved and the risk of his election being overturned is removed. End Comment. PIASCIK