NIGER DELTA SPOT REPORT: IJAW YOUTH PRESIDENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000069 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA, DS/IP/AF, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC OSLO FOR HELENA SCHRADER DOE FOR GPERSON, CAROLYN GAY TREASURY FOR ASEVERENS, SRENENDER, DFIELDS COMMERCE FOR KBURRESS STATE PASS USTR FOR ASST USTR FLISER STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR MARAD STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART STATE PASS TDA FOR NCABOT STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC NI SUBJECT: NIGER DELTA SPOT REPORT: IJAW YOUTH PRESIDENT BEATEN BY MILITARY Classified By: Consul General Donna Blair for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) Chris Ekiyor, President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC),the pre-eminent Ijaw youth organization in Nigeria, notified Poloff on February 18 that he was beaten by military Joint Task Force (JTF) soldiers at a checkpoint in Bayelsa on February 16. Ekiyor and 60 IYC members were headed to Oporoma, Bayelsa State in five boats to attend an IYC zonal election in Oporoma. The boats passed through a routine JTF checkpoint outside Yenagoa without incident. However, the JTF ordered Ekiyor and others off the boat at a second checkpoint just outside Oporoma (near a Shell platform). When Ekiyor would not "throw down" the IYC flag as requested by the JTF, he said he and five others, including a journalist, were "flogged and whipped" with the butts of machine guns and machetes (Ekiyor has a black eye, dislocated shoulder, and was seeking medical attention to determine whether he suffered internal injuries). The JTF told him they were targeting militants; Ekiyor had introduced himself to the JTF as IYC President and told Poloff no one in his group had been armed. However, a security source told the Regional Security Officer Ekiyor had been caught by the JTF with a pump action shotgun for which he claimed to have a license. ¶2. (C) Someone from Shell reportedly intervened and took Ekiyor and a JTF soldier to Yenagoa; the JTF command subsequently released Ekiyor and the others, and offered an apology. Ekiyor told Poloff the JTF beat everyone while he was being taken to Yenagoa but no one received a worse beating than he. As of February 18, two days after the attack, two IYC individuals were reported missing and not accounted for. ¶3. (C) Ekiyor warned Poloff he could not prevent "jungle justice," by youths who would want to retaliate this attack, especially if the two missing individuals are not found. Despite this, he told Poloff he requested IYC members give the GON an opportunity to hold the guilty JTF soldiers responsible for their abuse of the citizenry. Ekiyor noted the soldiers were speaking Hausa (a northern language) and therefore presumed they had little respect for southern Nigerians. Ekiyor's attorney is drafting letters to top GON officials, including the President Yar'Adua, requesting these JTF officers be criminally charged for their actions. ¶4. (C) Comment: Ekiyor is a practitioner of Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolence principles and has previously said would like to see a peaceful and just resolution to the Niger Delta. However, he has also suggested in previous conversations he would accept violence if it were the only means of response left to the Delta. It is not unlikely that some members of his group may have been traveling armed. Ijaw-JTF relations have long been strained and this attack could serve as a possible catalyst for a violent eruption of long-held animosities in retaliation for this attack. End Comment. ¶5. (U) This cable was cleared by Embassy Abuja. BLAIR