NIGERIA: JOS RIOTS NOT/NOT CAUSED BY OUTSIDERS

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 002494

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA
DOE FOR GEORGE PERSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL NI CD NG
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: JOS RIOTS NOT/NOT CAUSED BY OUTSIDERS
FROM NIGER AND CHAD

REF: A. ABUJA 2358

B. ABUJA 2377

Classified By: Political Counselor Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b
& d).


1. (S/NF) Summary: Reftels reported allegations by the
Governor and Deputy Governor of Plateau State that armed men
from Niger and Chad, either brought in by opposition parties
or motivated by their own extremist views, had played a
significant part in the November 27-28 Jos riots. At the
Ambassador's direction, Embassy offices checked with Nigerian
State Security Service (SSS) to see if it could confirm or
deny these allegations. SSS noted that, while some Chadians
and Nigeriens were among those arrested during the riots,
these were not/not brought in by Muslim extremist groups, nor
were they affiliates of foreign extremists. They were,
instead, long-resident laborers who participated in the
conflict once it started. SSS did note that there was local
premeditated organization of Hausa-Fulani youth to either
instigate or participate in violent acts connected to the Jos
election. SSS contacts dismissed the Governor's claims as an
attempt to divert blame from himself, noting that he had been
warned that the local government elections he was pushing to
hold would likely spark violence. End summary.


2. (C) As reported ref A, Plateau State Deputy Governor
Pauline Tallen told the Ambassador December 2 that the riots
in Jos were "a carfully devised plan" by Muslims from Chad
and Niger to use local elections as the cover for violent
attacks. In a later conversation the same day, Plateau
Governor Jonah Jang told the Ambassador a slightly different
story, blaming a Nigerian opposition political party for
importing the armed men from Niger and Chad, as essentially
mercenaries to fight against local people.


3. (S) As reported ref B, Jang went further in a December 4
conversation with the Ambassador, claiming that the
opposition party (presumably the ANPP, which is supported by
most of the Hausa Muslims in Jos) brought in fighters from
Niger and Chad, as well as from other parts of Nigeria, to
attack the local Christian community. He described these men
as "al Qaeda-like" outside extremists, and claimed that the
SSS was holding a large group of these outsiders. He said
SSS had extracted confessions from them that they had
traveled to Jos for the purpose of causing violence during
the elections.


4. (S/NF) The Ambassador directed, given past intel reports
of Chadians and Nigeriens being connected to a Nigerian
Islamic extremist leader in Borno State, Embassy offices to
contact SSS to see if it would back up Jang's and Tallen's
allegations. SSS officers acknowledged that there were some
Nigeriens and Chadians among those being held in connection
with the Jos violence. They strongly rejected, however, the
Governor and Deputy Governor's claims that they had either
started or directed the violence, or that any of them had
connections to any known Islamic radical groups. The SSS
officers characterized the arrested Nigeriens and Chadians as
long-time residents of the Jos area who happened to
participate in the violence once it started; there was no
evidence that their participation was part of an organized
extremist effort. There was some evidence of a few outside
radicals from other parts of Nigeria joining in the conflict
once it started, but SSS said they did not play any
significant part in what happened, either. In addition, SSS
reported that there was some premeditated organization of
Hausa-Fulani youth groups to instigate or participate in
violence in violence connected with the Jos election.


5. (S/NF) In response to Jang's allegations, the SSS officers
commented that both sides in Jos bore part of the blame for
touching off the riots. Both had seen the Local Government

ABUJA 00002494 002 OF 002


elections as the likely spark to re-ignite the conflict
experienced in 2001 and 2004; both had been preparing for
trouble for some time and, according to SSS, both bore a
share of the blame for what followed. SSS also singled out
Jang for criticism, noting that he had been warned by Federal
authorities that pushing ahead with the elections would
likely lead to violence, but he insisted on proceeding
anyway. They dismissed the bulk of his allegations as an
attempt to find a "foreign devil" to use to divert criticism
from his own mistakes.


6. (U) This cable was coordinated with Consulate Lagos.
Sanders