NIGERIA: SHAKE-UP IN PRESIDENTIAL STAFF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001670 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA DOE FOR GEORGE PERSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2018 TAGS: PGOV NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: SHAKE-UP IN PRESIDENTIAL STAFF REF: A. ABUJA 1550 ¶B. ABUJA 1079 Classified By: Political Counselor Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b & d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On August 18, Presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi, announced a shake-up in the Presidential staff, including the elimination of the Office of the Chief of Staff. The move was perhaps the first in a series of long-rumored changes to improve effectiveness and accountability throughout the Presidency, Cabinet and military, as well as to replace Obasanjo-era political appointees with those loyal to President Yar'Adua. However, the newly appointed Principal Secretary to the President, former Delta State Commissioner of Finance David Edevbie, is widely viewed to be a proxy for James Ibori, and is a worrisome sign of Ibori's possible growing influence at Aso Rock. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) On August 18, President Umaru Musa Yar,Adua, through his spokesman Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, announced a shake-up in the Presidential staff. As part of what an unidentified insider described in the press as "the first of many steps," President Yar'Adua eliminated the position of Chief of Staff, which had been temporarily occupied by Dr. Gbolade Osinow, the President's Senior Special Assistant for Political Matters. Concurrently, ten Obasanjo-era political appointees from the Chief of Staff's Office were dismissed, effectively eliminating the office. ¶3. (C) Chief Mike Oghiadome, former Deputy Governor of Edo State and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Vice President (VP) Goodluck Jonathan was shifted to the position of Principal Secretary to the VP, presumably as a vote of confidence, even as the rest of his colleagues from the Office of the Chief of Staff were let go and the Office itself eliminated. Former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Baba Kaigama, was appointed as the new Permanent Secretary of the State House, and will serve as the head of the State House Administration and its Chief Accounting Officer. He will assume financial oversight duties formerly attributed to the Principal Secretary position, newly occupied since July 31 by David Edevbie, former Delta State Finance Commissioner under ex-Governor James Ibori (see reftel A). Edevbie will apparently have considerable influence over what information gets to the President, as well as who has access to him. ¶4. (U) Dr. Kaigama is a technocrat with extensive experience in the executive branch and academia. Before entering government service, he was a research fellow at Bayero and Ahmadu Bello universities from 1977-88, and Director of the Lake Chad Research Institute in Maiduguri from 1988-94. He earned degrees in Agronomy from Kansas State University (M.Sc ) 1976),and the University of Nebraska (Ph.D.- 1982). From 1994-97, Dr. Kaigama served as Director General for State and Local Government Affairs in the federal ministry of the same name, and later in the Presidency. Subsequently, he held the position of Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, the Federal Ministries of Environment, Defense, and Foreign Affairs, as well as in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. ¶5. (U) The President also formalized the appointment of Alhaji Abdullahi Ahmed Yola as Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary (PermSec) in the Federal Ministry of Justice. Yola, the most senior director in the Justice Ministry, had been acting Solicitor-General and PermSec for several months. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: Most observers have welcomed these changes, seeing them as evidence that Yar'Adua is rooting out Obasanjo's influence and leaving his own mark on the Presidency. Per reftels A and B, however, there are troubling signs that confidantes of notoriously corrupt former Delta state governor Ibori are taking on powerful positions within Yar'Adua's administration. The enormous influence that Post predicts Edevbie will have over President Yar'Adua as the gatekeeper to his office, not to mention ABUJA 00001670 002 OF 002 having a seat at the table for all important meetings, is cause for great concern. END COMMENT. PIASCIK