NIGERIA: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH GOVERNOR SARAKI -

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 ABUJA 002123 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA DOE FOR GEORGE PERSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2018 TAGS: PGOV NI SUBJECT: NIGERIA: AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH GOVERNOR SARAKI - DISCUSSES NIGERIA'S MEDIUM TERM FUTURE, SAYS YAR'ADUA DOES NOT HAVE CANCER REF: A. ABUJA 00211 ¶B. ABUJA 2065 ¶C. ABUJA 2095 ABUJA 00002123 001.3 OF 004 Classified By: Ambassador Robin R. Sanders for reasons 1.4 (B & D) ¶1. (S) Summary: Ambassador held an October 27 one-on-one meeting with influential Governor's Forum Chairman, PDP inner circle member, and close Presidential confidant Kwara Governor Bukola Saraki to get his viewpoint on the pending Supreme Court (SC) decision on the 2007 presidential election and the "what if " scenarios associated with the SC's decision. Ambassador included in the discussion USG concerns about President Yar'Adua's HEALTH as well as our sense that Nigeria seems adrift and lacking in direction. After a quick blank look and a missed beat in responding to Ambassador's question on whether Yar'Adua has lung cancer, Saraki said he did not think so, was only aware of his serious kidney problems, and had no other specifics. He did admit he had heard the rumors as well. On what scenario he thought was the best for the SC to make for the country, Saraki said, responding as a PDP politician, that an SC annulment would produce the most chaos as there is no PDP leader around which the party would coalesce. Expecting an SC decision in late November, Saraki was most worried about the role of Senate President David Mark. He described Mark as severely ambitious, particularly given his military background, closeness to Obasanjo, and his strongman personality. He doubted he would call elections in 90 days, using lack of capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the reason not do so. He noted Mark as "acting President" can determine when the country or INEC are ready for new elections when he sees fit. (Note: Our understanding of the Constitution contradicts Saraki, but we will continue to check. End Note). Hence, a former (but ambitious) military man with this much power to determine the future of Nigeria's democracy is something Saraki said he did not want see. He mentioned that the leading Niger Delta Minister candidate is septuagenarian Gabriel Onsoyede (sic),a former British Petroleum and Celtel CEO, who is from Delta State. The Ambassador also used the occasion to re-raise USG concerns about any role by ex-Delta Governor Ibori in a Yar'Adua administration. The atmosphere in Abuja (not so much in the States) is tenuous as clearly political players, including Saraki, former Vice President and AC presidential candidate Atiku and others, are jockeying for their next strategic move. Rumors persist that efforts by all camps, including Yar'Adua's, are making overtures to the Supreme Court judges. We are still hearing, however, good things about the integrity of SC Chief Justice Kutigi. Portuguese Ambassador told Ambassador evening of October 27 that her contacts are saying Yar'Adua needs another kidney transplant. End Summary. -------------- Yar'Adua's HEALTH -------------- ¶2. (S) Ambassador held a one-on-one lunch at the residence for leading Northern Nigerian political figure and Governor of Kwara State Bukola Saraki on Oct 27. Saraki, a medical doctor, is also chairman of the influential Northern Governor's Forum, ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) insider, and a close confident of President Yar'Adua. He came to the residence directly after having had a two hour meeting with Yar'Adua. Ambassador began the lunch by asking after the President given the persistent rumors about his health. She then asked Saraki whether Yar'Adua had lung cancer, underscoring that this was the current rumor circulating not only in Nigeria, but also in the international press and within diplomatic circles. She also noted how concerned the USG was about the HEALTH of the President and there was also a sense that the country was adrift because of this as well as the pending Supreme Court (SC) case. Ambassador added that she had just returned from ABUJA 00002123 002.4 OF 004 Washington and that there was a high level of worry as to where Nigeria is headed in the short and medium term as not much progress has been made on key issues such as governance, rule of law, etc., in the last 18 months. Surprisingly, Saraki said he could understand this as there were a lot of loose ends in the country right now. On the President's having lung cancer, the Kwara Governor had a momentary blank look, missed a beat in responding, but recovering quickly added,that all he knew for sure was that the President suffered from severe kidney disease. He asked the Ambassador if she wanted his layman's or medical view of the issue. The Ambassador said she could figure out the layman's view for herself, but his medical and comments about his interactions with the President would be much appreciated. ¶3. (S) After a brief chuckle on that comment, Saraki turned serious and stated that he could not see any signs of cancer in his many dealings with the President, particularly nothing like lung cancer. He noted that he is dealing now with his father's cancer and given this plus his medical background, he did not see any signs that there is this type of carcinoma, particularly any at stage 3 as is being rumored. The Kwara Governor emphasized that he had just finished a two hour meeting with Yar'Adua and saw no signs of fatigue or lack of mental acuity. These can come either from cancer-related drugs or the disease itself as the disease is terminal and at stage 3 ONE is looking at no more than a 5-6 month survival window, Saraki explained. He highlighted again that he "just did not see these signs," and he regularly meets with Yar'Adua. (Note: We need to take Saraki's comments in stride as the Governor is politically ambitious, is close to Yar'Adua, and its serves his ambitions to have Yar'Adua remain in office, in whatever medical or physical shape he may be in. End Note). -------------- Supreme Court Decision Scenarios and the PDP -------------- ¶4. (C). Ambassador then turned the conversation to the pending Supreme Court (SC) decision and how Saraki thought it might rule -- either for or against the President. She also asked the Kwara Governor if he would also address what was going on inside the PDP -- since from the outside it looks like things are a mess and falling apart. Saraki began by addressing the internal PDP question first. He noted that the PDP has always been a "loose mosaic " but the ONE thing that kept it all together and has ensured its leadership over the last 8-9 years was the role of former president Obasanjo. OBJ always was able to whip the party into shape either by "convincing " (read bribe),strong arming, or by whatever tactic possible to get people to do what he wanted and when he wanted. There is no ONE able to do that now within the PDP, Saraki stated. Ambassador said the party looked fractious, but Saraki disagreed. In his view, there are groupings -- the Obasanjo and Babangida groups to mention a few -- without much power to do things on their own and push the PDP in any particular direction. "The Northern Governor's block is the largest and most influential," Saraki said, "because we control the voting delegates to the convention, which was why neither Obasanjo or Babangida were unable to get their candidates voted in as PDP Chairman last spring." ¶5. (S) Moving on to the earlier part of the Ambassador's question on the SC scenarios, Saraki said he wanted to respond to this as a PDP politician. He began by saying he would rather have to worry about "managing President Yar'Adua's HEALTH issues whatever they maybe,than having to address a scenario where the SC has annulled the 2007 presidential elections. An annulment would be a disaster and a setback for Nigeria; upholding the 2007 elections would be the best for the country as well as the PDP." The other parties such as the Action Congress (AC) and All Nigerian Peoples' Party (ANPP) are too weak to be successful," Saraki ABUJA 00002123 003.5 OF 004 stressed. He described his worries in the following manner. On the Yar'Adua's HEALTH issue, Saraki said that the PDP could manage these issues as they would have time to put in place their strategy to secure a successful election for the North in 2011 and coalesce around ONE candidate, which would not be the case now in an annulment scenario. In addition, this would also give the PDP time to choose a strong candidate to work with current Vice President Jonathan if he succeeded to the Presidency. Right now, in 2008-2009, with an annulment scenario there are too many politically relevant people who either want power back or power for the first time such as Babaingida, Obasanjo, Atiku, and Senate President David Mark. In summing up this point, Saraki commented that if SC ruled for Yar'Adua, then these political players will be put off until 2011, and in his view only Atiku would be young and influential enough to still be relevant at that time. Hence, 2011 would be too late for Obasanjo and Babangida to make another bid for the presidency, or control the PDP. ¶6. (S) The Kwara Governor then said that his biggest worry in any annulment scenario is the role that current Senate President David Mark would play, because the Constitution gives him extraordinary powers with little checks and balances on that power. Saraki claims that there is no specific rule that requires the Senate President to call for election in 90 days if he feels that neither the country or INEC are not ready. According to Saraki, the Senate President has the discretion to decide if the country or INEC are ready within 90 days to hold another election. The Northern Governor's Forum Chairman added that David Mark was ambitious, a former military leader, smart, and was close to Obasanjo -- all reasons that he would not be a neutral player in an SC annulment scenario. Moreover, Mark wants to be President of Nigeria, Saraki concluded. (Note: We will continue to check the interpretations of the Constitution on this issue. End Note). ¶7. (C) Ambassador closed out the session by putting another marker down with the Governor on James Ibori. She said she hoped Ibori was off the list for any Niger Delta Ministry position as she highlighted this would certainly shut down a good part of the U.S.-Nigeria relationship, noting that we wanted to see action coming from the EFCC for the upcoming British case against Ibori in January 2009. Saraki pushed back and said he did not see how the EFCC played in this as in his view the U.S. and UK needed to be focusing on the Attorney General (AG) as he was the ONE who had all the cards and documents on this case. He added that he did not know under whose authority AG Aondoakaa was operating, citing the AG's recent letter to the Metropolitan police that it illegally obtained documents on ex-Delta Governor Ibori for its case. EFCC Chair Waziri is out of this and not part of the issue. The UK needs to fight it out with the AG and not the EFCC, and execute whatever bilateral reaction they wish if they do not get results from the AG, Saraki concluded. Regardless, the Ambassador added, she would not be seeing Waziri despite her pending request for dinner with her, and she would find a diplomatic way of letting her know this, underscoring that the USG is waiting for results on Ibori's January 2009 UK case before there can be any consideration for a conversation with her. ¶8. (C) Comment: All of Saraki's comments need to be taken in the context that he too is an ambitious, driven, and a politically-motivated individual who also wants to be President of Nigeria. In many ways, the Governor is very western in his outlook and demeanor having studied in the United States where he spends his vacations and has numerous friends. Whether he is in the loop on all the details of the President's HEALTH is another question. We would guess that he is -- maybe not fully -- but more than he wants to reveal at this time. He did not quite recover quickly enough in response to the question on whether Yar'Adua has lung cancer, as it caught him off guard, but his long medical explanation was not convincing as it is hard to believe that some parts of the rumor of a "new medical condition and crisis" at the ABUJA 00002123 004.5 OF 004 Presidency is not true -- even if it is not lung cancer, Yar'Adua is not/not in good health. ¶9. (C) The Portuguese Ambassador told the Ambassador night of October 27 that her contact in the Villa who is on the Villa medical staff said that Yar'Adua needs another kidney transplant, and that the new condition is related to that and not lung cancer. At any rate, we will see what the next couple of months bring with the Supreme Court decision and Yar'Adua's HEALTH being the major cornerstones on how Nigeria will fare over the next six months. Players like former Vice President Atiku is ONE we will have to watch more and more if reports of his return to the PDP are true. If Atiku does return to the PDP, where he still enjoys a lot of support, then he might be the strongman needed to whip the PDP back into shaped whether there is an annulment or not. However, he would still have to deal with his nemesis Obasanjo, which could have the opposite affect of splitting the party even more. ¶10. On Senate President David Mark, he is a wildcard which is why in our ref C cable we placed him in a category all by himself in our Top Five people per sector to watch. We will look into the possible Constitutional loop holes that might be there on the 90-day clock to call for re-elections if the 2007 presidential election is annulled. However, this is the first serious concern about a possible former mlitary leader with political amibitions giving ONE of our major contacts, for good or bad information, pause. Mark is brusque, not well liked in many quarters, and arrogant. Reports of his involvement in corruption efforts in his 2007 election as well as his 2008 appeal are still being discussed. End comment. Sanders