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