NIGERIA: EFCC DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO ATTORNEY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001573

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA
LONDON POL - LORD, PARIS POL - KANEDA, USVIENNA FOR UNODC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EFIN KCOR SNAR NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: EFCC DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO ATTORNEY
GENERAL AONDOAKAA AND SGF KINGIBE

REF: SECSTATE 84635

Classified By: A/DCM Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b & d).


1. (C) Summary: In separate meetings August 7, CDA presented
reftel demarche expressing our concerns about developments at
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to
Attorney General (AG) Michael Aondoakaa and Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (SGF) Baba Gana Kingibe. She
left a nonpaper conveying the substance of the demarche with
Kingibe. Both the AG and SGF attempted to push back against
the strong messages conveyed in the demarche. Aondoakaa
attempted to argue that there were legal reasons requiring
the redeployments, and appealed for new Chairwoman Waziri to
be given more time to prove she could show results. He
argued that our views were informed by former Chairman
Ribadu's inappropriate "badmouthing" of his own government in
London and Washington. Kingibe argued that President
Yar'Adua was serious about the fight against corruption, but
was perhaps going about it in a way which tried the patience
of Nigeria's foreign partners. He cautioned, however, that
an approach based on "demands and demarches" was less likely
to succeed with the President than one based on an attempt to
find common ground and a conversational tone. End Summary.

AG Aondoakaa
--------------

2. (C) After CDA went through the demarche point by point,
Aondoakaa launched into a lengthy, rambling response. He
provided a long-winded defense of the deployments of EFCC
staff, arguing that Ribadu had improperly stacked the
Commission with people from Adamawa state and his own
(Fulani) ethnic group. This, he said violated the "Federal
Character" provisions of both the Nigerian Constitution and
Federal Character Act, which require that all parts of the
GON reflect the ethnic and regional diversity of the country
as a whole. He claimed that Adamawa Fulanis amounted to 80%
of those who had been reassigned. (Comment: we question
this. Our contacts inside the EFCC agree Adamawa people were
the plurality, but not a majority of those reassigned.
Certainly not 80%. The AG, however, claimed to have
documentary evidence, which he will share. End comment.) He
also claimed that former Chairman Nuhu Ribadu, his deputy
Ibrahim Lamorde and the recently arrested Inspector Magu were
all from the same village. (Comment: we challenge this.
Ribadu and Lamorde are both from Adamawa, but from towns 100
miles apart. Magu is a Kanuri from Borno state. End
comment.)


3. (C) Aondoakaa also insisted that the reassignments were in
line with standard police procedure, and in fact required by
the Police Service Reform Act, which mandates reassigning
officers every three years. By contrast, many of the
officers at EFCC had been there for 5 years or more. He also
argued that the recent demotion of Ribadu (among others) was
not an attempt to treat him unfairly. He pointed out that
Ribadu's earlier promotions had been contrary to Police
regulations requiring at least three years between
promotions. Ribadu, he claimed, had been promoted three
times in one year. The AG added that Ribadu had been
traveling around the UK and US badmouthing the GON in ways
that no government would tolerate from one of its own staff.
He also claimed that Ribadu was planting stories favorable to
himself in the Sahara Reporters website, and was even
"bankrolling" the site.


4. (C) Responding to the Charge's expression of high level
USG concern over Ribadu's treatment, Aondoakaa stressed that
Ribadu was not/not under arrest, nor likely to be arrested.
He flatly denied press reports that Ribadu would be required
to leave the police training course he is attending at NIPSS.



5. (C) Turning to the performance of new EFCC Chair Waziri,
the AG noted that she had only just arrived, and was trying
to deal with the genuine problems created by Ribadu's tenure:
not only the "federal character" and length of stay
questions, but also the evidence of officers having done a
poor job of building cases against alleged corrupt officials.
President Yar'Adua's commitment to rule of law also meant
not going forward with cases that would not stand up in
court, he stressed. Aondoakaa appealed for Waziri to be
given more time to show results. He pointed out that Waziri
had just proposed a new bill to the National Assembly, a
"Civil Forfeiture Act," which would effectively remove the

current immunity of serving governors, ministers and even the
President, against being brought to court over corruption
charges while in office. He also pointed to the August 6
arrest of Chief Bode George, former head of the Nigerian
Ports Authority and a senior chieftain of the PDP. He
insisted that none of the investigations of other corruption
cases would be stopped or even significantly delayed by
Waziri's shakeup.


6. (C) That said, the AG noted that, while 26 former
governors were being investigated by the EFCC, it was likely
that only four states (presumably Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers
and Bayelsa) were guilty of the bulk of all the stealing by
state governments. When asked if that meant that the case
against former Delta Governor Ibori was going ahead,
Aondoakaa did not answer, instead launching into a long
account of how Ribadu had attempted to smear him by planting
stories alleging that he had interfered with the money
laundering case against Ibori in the UK. The AG claimed that
it was Ribadu who had endangered the UK case by attempting to
bypass the HMG-GON legal assistance treaty concerning the
handling of evidence.


7. (C) Aondoakaa appealed repeatedly for the USG to give
Waziri and the EFCC more time to prove themselves. "Just two
more months" would be enough to show this was true, he said.
He added that he would reiterate to her the importance of
achieving progress on existing cases, and added that there
was "momentum building" for the GON's anti-corruption effort.



8. (C) The CDA responded that this was not the impression
created by both Waziri's moves at the EFCC, the lack of
movement on high profile cases and other recent developments
such as the appointment of David Edevbie, an Ibori crony and
"person of interest" in the UK's investigation of Ibori (FYI:
press reports claim Edevbie was instrumental in organizing
Ibori's money laundering operations. End FYI),to a senior
position on President Yar'Adua's staff. The AG first denied
being aware of the appointment, then argued that Edevbie
should be treated as innocent until proven guilty. Just
because there were allegations against him in the press did
not mean he was guilty. The CDA responded that the negative
perception created by such an appointment was hard to
reconcile with the President's desire to create momentum
against corruption.

SGF Kingibe
--------------

9. (C) CDA reviewed reftel demarche in detail with Kingibe,
and left him a nonpaper drawn from it. The SGF argued that
much of what we perceived as backtracking, was in fact just
part of President Yar'Adua's commitment to rule of law and
proper procedure. This was, in some ways, a "double-edged
sword," he said, since it also meant that cases had to be
prosecuted based on properly assembled evidence, and the
accused rights such as the presumption of innocence and right
to habeas corpus needed to be respected. He said the
President was very "deliberative," but was committed to the
strategic goals set forth in his reform agenda. He said Mrs.
Waziri's actions were a result of the "mess" she had found
when she took over the EFCC, when cases were being pushed
ahead without concern for the fine points of legal procedure.
He noted that his own son worked at the EFCC, and had earned
the nickname "Mr. Due Process" from his colleagues because
(according to his father) he was trying to follow the rules
while they were used to cutting corners.


10. (C) The CDA responded that, while we had heard Mrs.
Waziri on all these points, and that the Ambassador has
discussed USG concerns repeatedly with the President, it was
nonetheless our judgment that, prior to Waziri's arrival, the
previous team at EFCC had been making significant headway,
both in terms of real prosecutions and the recovery of stolen
money, among other things. The CDA also reiterated our
concern about the effect on the EFCC's institutional capacity
of the removal of so many experienced officers with whom we
built up trust, whom we had trained with USG funds, and with
whom we had established cooperative working relationships.


11. (C) Kingibe acknowledged these concerns, and that the
impression they were leaving was having a negative impact on
our assessment of the basic credibility of both the
President's reform agenda and his whole government. He was
also aware of the Department's conversation with the Nigerian

Charge' about the treatment Ribadu and our concerns about the
possibility that he might be arrested. He said he was not
aware of any plans to arrest Ribadu.


12. (C) The SGF questioned, however, whether the right way to
raise these issues was through "demands and demarches." He
argued that a less adversarial and more conversational
approach, like that which Ambassador Sanders had been
pursuing heretofore, was more likely to succeed with the
President. The CDA said we would convey this back to
Washington, but stressed that the way the GON and EFCC had
been functioning recently had created the perception that the
GON was walking away from the fight against corruption. She
reiterated our concerns over the impression created by the
appointment of David Edevbie to a senior position on
Yar'Adua's staff. Kingibe responded "I hear you," and said
the GON would attempt to address our concerns, but reiterated
his view that a less confrontational approach would be more
likely to yield positive results.

Possible UK-U.S. Joint Approach
--------------

13. (C) In an August 8 meeting with CDA and A/DCM, UK High
Commissioner Dewar said HMG was also in the process of
rethinking its relations with the EFCC in the light of recent
developments regarding corruption, including both Waziri's
actions and the Edevbie appointment. He said the need for
action on corruption, including the pursuit of high-profile
cases, had been a major item for discussion during President
Yar'Adua's recent visit to London. He asked if there was
merit in considering a joint approach by the UK and U.S. and
perhaps others (particularly the EU) to the President on this
issue. CDA agreed to forward this suggestion to the
Department.

Comment
--------------

14. (C) While this pushback from the AG and SGF was
predictable, it is clear that the GON is aware of the
seriousness of our concern. Kingibe in particular took note
of the effect events were having on USG's evaluation of GON
credibility. It is extremely rare for us to be able to get
meetings with the likes of Aondoakaa and Kingibe on short
notice. We have now also managed to arrange meetings with
FonMin Maduekwe and EFCC Chair Waziri for August 8 (see
septels). We will continue to deliver the message at every
opportunity. End comment.
PIASCIK