PRESIDENT YAR'ADUA ON: PFIZER AND AFRICOM

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 000152

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

AF/W

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2018
TAGS: PGOV ECON EFIN EINV NI
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT YAR'ADUA ON: PFIZER AND AFRICOM

Classified By: Ambassador Robin Sanders for Reasons 1.4 (b, c, & d).


1. In a short phone call to Ambassador late January 21 just
prior to his departure for the Davos Summit in Switzerland,
Nigerian President Yar'Adua made the following points on next
steps on Pfizer and his position on AFRICOM and a possible
visit to Nigeria by the AFRICOM Combatant Commander (COCOM).


2. Pfizer: The President said he had spoken to the Governor
of Kano last week on the issue, and urged an amicable
solution as well as resolution to the issues surrounding
Pfizer. He said he encouraged dialogue between parties and
asked that the Kano Governor share these thoughts with the
Kano Attorney General. In addition, Yar'Adua said he had
spoken with the Federal Attorney General (AG) Aondoakaa and
urged the same thing, stressing an amicable resolution. He
also said that he had instructed the Federal AG to meet with
the Ambassador soonest, preferably week of Jan 21-Jan 25 to
begin the dialogue which in turn would determine who, in
addition to the Federal AG, would be the best and most useful
contact with Pfizer for the continuing dialogue. The
Ambassador noted that she appreciated the President's
engagement and she stands ready to meet with Aondoakaa at the
earliest opportunity. (Note: we have since heard through
British sources that Aondoakaa is likely out of the country
or traveling soon, so we do not anticipate a meeting with the
Federal AG this week, but will continue to follow-up with his
office. end note)


3. AFRICOM: Given that post had received a query regarding a
possible upcoming visit to Nigeria from the AFRICOM COCOM
within the next month, Ambassador took advantage of the
President's January 21 phone call to raise the possibility of
a visit to Nigeria and meeting with him for AFRICOM COCOM
given his positive statements about AFRICOM during his recent
Washington trip in December 2007. The Ambassador noted that
she recognized the public and political fallout from his
Washington comments, that had reached shrill proportions in
Nigeria, but said that forward movement would be best as this
was an important cornerstone in the way ahead on US-Nigerian
relations. The President agreed that there was good synergy
on areas of common interest with AFRICOM and that he still
supported these areas of synergy, but that it was better to
wait on a visit and he would come back to the Ambassador when
he thought it would be appropriate to meet with the AFRICOM
COCOM. In a subsequent Jan 23 meeting between visiting DAS
Moss and Nigerian National Assembly Speaker Bankole, the
latter also echoed support for synergies with AFRICOM
especially on Niger Delta related technical support, but also
noted that the time was not right to push for more Nigerian
political support for AFRICOM until some additional political
building blocks were in place so that Nigerians understood
the benefits of AFRICOM.


4. Comment: Yar'Adua, without explicitly walking back from
his positive Washington statements on AFRICOM, was clear that
he wanted to determine when a visit would work best. It has
taken almost two months for Yar'Adua comments, twisted most
often completely out of context by the press, political foes,
and even members of his executive circle in the Villa, to get
off the front pages of the press. Therefore, he may want to
have some additional space in time, prior to having the
furor over AFRICOM back on the front burner. We understand
that he remains nervous about his election tribunal issues
which are upcoming, and January 23 press reports show that
the tribunal has allowed both former Vice President Atiku and
former Presidential candidate Buhari to amend their petitions
on the election and their accusations of fraud. Yar'Adua may
wish to see this entire election issue behind him with a
final resolution to his legitimacy prior to having the
AFRICOM COCOM visit. That being said, he may get buoyed by
the Davos Summit and other discussions the Mission will have
with him in early February to reconsider this issue as he
also promised the Ambassador a working meeting with her and
her team sometime in early February. On Pfizer, the DCM will
be raising the issue in her meeting this week with the Deputy
Governor in Kano during a swing through the region for MLK
events, and we will continue to push for a meeting with the
Federal AG.
SANDERS