(C/NF) NIGERIA: CORRUPT COURT REVERSES TRIBUNAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000780

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
NOFORN

DEPT FOR AF/W, INR/AA, INR/B
DOE FOR GPERSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/24/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINR KDEM KJUS NI
SUBJECT: (C/NF) NIGERIA: CORRUPT COURT REVERSES TRIBUNAL
RULINGS

REF: A. 07 ABUJA 1693

B. ABUJA 320

Classified By: Pol/C Walter Pflaumer, reasons 1.4 (b, c & d).


1. (C//NF) SUMMARY: On April 10, the Kaduna Court of Appeal,
which heard all appeals to electoral tribunal rulings in
Nigeria's North-West zone, reversed the Kebbi State Election
Tribunal decision to overturn Usman Dakin-Gari's (People's
Democratic Party, PDP) gubernatorial election. The next day,
the same court nullified the election of Aliyu Wamakko (PDP),
reversing the Sokoto State Election Tribunal's ruling
upholding that election. Neither Dakin-Gari nor Wamakko had
been part of the PDP prior to the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) deadline for the substitution of
candidates (the key point at issue in both cases); yet, the
court upheld Dakin-Gari's election and invalidated Wamakko's.
The decision of the appeal court to render contradictory
judgments in the two seemingly identical cases has prompted
criticism, and speculation of judicial impropriety and
corruption. First Lady Turai Yar'Adua is alleged to have
bribed Appeal Court Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to uphold the
election of her son-in-law, Usman Dakin-Gari. Former
governor of Sokoto, Attahiru Bafarawa, is also accused of
bribing the same judge to overturn the election of political
rival Aliyu Wamakko. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) In conversation with PolOff April 23, Kabiru Turaki
(strictly protect),prominent lawyer who represented
President Yar'Adua at the Presidential Election Tribunal, and
was an aggrieved rival to Dakin-Gari for the PDP
gubernatorial nomination in Kebbi, contended that the Sokoto
and Kebbi cases were nearly identical, and should have led to
similar (if not identical) rulings. Turaki said that in both
cases, the candidates who were declared the winners had not
been properly nominated by the People's Democratic Party
(PDP). He noted that both had decamped from the All Nigeria
People's Party (ANPP) to the PDP, but only after INEC,s
February 14, 2007 deadline to substitute candidates.
(Comment: Turaki is an intelligent, astute lawyer, who
possesses an impressive knowledge of the electoral law.
While he stood to benefit directly from a re-run in Kebbi,
where he had a good chance to replace Dakin-Gari as the PDP
candidate, we believe his assessment of what may have
transpired at the appeals court remains honest. End Comment.)


3. (C//NF) In the Kebbi case, Turaki alleged that First Lady
Hajiya Turai Yar'Adua intervened on behalf of her son-in-law
Dakin-Gari (he wed President Yar'Adua's daughter Zainab last
June) by bribing Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa to rule in
Dakin-Gari's favor. Turaki claimed that, on April 10, the
First Lady approached Bulkachuwa in Kaduna, as a fellow
northern Muslim woman, and "influenced" her to uphold
Dakin-Gari,s election. Turaki also asserted that Umaru
Abdallahi, President of the Federal Court of Appeal which
oversees the nation's state election tribunals, unlawfully
visited Bulkachuwa in her Kaduna chambers prior to the
announcement of the verdict. Bulkachuwa's ruling, according
to Turaki, was replete with "faulty, shoddy legal reasoning,"
and was not an adequate judgment at all. In particular,
Turaki said the judgment had been merely a "few lines
scribbled on a piece of paper," not a comprehensive analysis
addressing the substantive merits in the case. The fact that
the court has yet to publish the judgment as required by law,
several days after it had been announced, is further proof of
judicial impropriety, Turaki added. (Comment: Post has
reported other allegations of possible corrupt practices
involving First Lady Turai elsewhere, see Ref B. The First
Lady may have considered a favorable ruling for her
daughter's husband in the family's best interest. Such
allegations, whether true or not, undermine the President's
apparent commitment to the rule of law; see Ref C. The
Kaduna court also upheld the election of Ibrahim Shema (PDP),
a close associate of President Yar'Adua, as Katsina governor.
We do not yet know, however, whether this decision was also
a result of "influence," or was on cogent legal grounds. End
Comment.)


4. (C//NF) With respect to the Sokoto decision, Inuwa

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Abdul-Qadir (strictly protect),Sokoto state Attorney General
and reliable Mission contact, told PolOff April 19 that
former Sokoto governor, Attahiru Bafarawa (Democratic
People's Party, 1999-2007) also approached Justice Bulkachuwa
and bribed her to quash rival Aliyu Wamakko's election and
order fresh polls. (Note: Abdul-Qadir's appointment as
Sokoto State Attorney General is not/not affected by the
ruling to overturn Wamakko's election. End Note.)
Abdul-Qadir claimed that Bafarawa, who he believed was
currently studying in the U.S., asked Bulkachuwa and her
husband to meet him in the States, and bribed her there to
overturn the election. (Note: It is not clear whether
Wamakko will be allowed to stand on the banner of the PDP in
the Sokoto by-election, as the court's ruling effectively
disqualified him for the nomination as bona fide PDP
candidates. End Note.)


5. (C//NF) While offering no proof, Abdul-Qadir claimed that
Bafarawa received the funds he used to bribe Bulkachuwa from
Iran. To that end, Abdul-Qadir asked for information on
Iran's possible activities in Nigeria, Bafarawa's current
activities in the U.S., and Bulkachuwa's alleged travels to
the U.S. (PolOff, of course, demurred). Abdul-Qadir claimed
the Sultan of Sokoto was seeking the information out of
concern that Iran may be jointly funding Bafarawa and the
Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN),which Abdul-Qadir said the
Sultan believes is targeting him along with some Sunni imams
(Post will report more on the IMN, septel). (Note: The
Sultan's brother Mu'azu Abubakar, who has provided useful
information to PolOff in the past and who appears plugged-in
to the goings on in Sokoto, confirmed that the Sultan was
seeking information about Iranian activities. End Note.)
(Comment: We, in any case, question these allegations of
Bafarawa's ties to Iran and the IMN. We note that Bafarawa
and Wamakko fell out in 2005 when the latter was deputy
governor, and that Bafarawa is reportedly enormously wealthy,
independent of whatever wealth he may have acquired in
office, and would not need external funds to bribe a judge.
End Comment.)


6. (C//NF) COMMENT: While some observers have heralded the
invalidation of many gubernatorial and state elections as
evidence of an increasingly independent and robust judiciary,
poised to challenge a corrupt, iniquitous political system,
the Kebbi and Sokoto appeals cases illustrate that this is
far from a universal situation, and that judicial corruption
remains endemic in Nigeria. END COMMENT.
SANDERS