AMBASSADOR PRESSES FOR CHANGE WITH NIGERIA'S NEW ATTORNEY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 000179

SIPDIS
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, INL/FO, L/LEI, DRL, INR/AA
AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE PASS TO AMEMBASSY MALABO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/26
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR PTER CJAN SNAR SOCI KCRM NI
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR PRESSES FOR CHANGE WITH NIGERIA'S NEW ATTORNEY
GENERAL

CLASSIFIED BY: James P. McAnulty, Political Counselor, U.S. Embassy
Abuja, Political Section; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)

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SUMMARY

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1. (C) Within 24 hours of Vice President Goodluck Jonathan's
designation as Acting President, Jonathan replaced controversial
Attorney General and Minister of Justice Michael Aondoakaa with
Minister of Labor and Productivity Adetokunbo Kayode on February

10. The Ambassador met with Kayode February 16 to brief him on
U.S. interests with the Attorney General's Office, including
improved anti-corruption efforts, better cooperation on law
enforcement (particularly extradition),counter-terrorism, and
aviation issues. The Ambassador also laid down strong markers for
improving the electoral process. Kayode, well known by the U.S.
Mission, responded positively on all counts, and agreed, almost
promised, that Independent National Election Commission (INEC)
Chairperson Maurice Iwu should not be allowed to remain in office
past June 2010. We will monitor how well Kayode performs in his
new position. END SUMMARY.




2. (C) After congratulating Kayode on his appointment as Attorney
General and Minister of Justice, the Ambassador clarified Nigeria's
placement on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) watch
list of "countries of interest," explaining that the U.S. had not
listed Nigeria as a "state sponsor of terrorism," but rather as a
"country of interest" for closer air travel security monitoring.
She clarified that the U.S. did not discriminate against Nigerians,
but rather used the TSA list to prevent immediate and future
security threats.




3. (C) The Ambassador also informed Kayode that his Ministry's
Senior Legal Counsel and TSA Attache Anthony Giovanniello reached
tentative agreement in Lagos February 13 on the text of the
proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Air Marshals
program. She added that the two main changes involved a commitment
by the U.S. to provide air marshals training and to replace the MOU
with a legally enforceable agreement within the next six months.
The State Department must now approve the text. Kayode agreed
that, in principle, he sees nothing wrong with the Air Marshals
program since "security is good for everyone."




4. (C) The Ambassador emphasized the importance of effective GON
action against corruption and U.S. dissatisfaction with the
inability of the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) to secure meaningful convictions of Nigeria's
worst offenders. She also pointed out INEC's ineffective
leadership, explaining that the organization's biggest challenge
involved lack of credibility. Using February 6 gubernatorial
election in Anambra State as an example of INEC's most recent
dismal performance, the Ambassador encouraged the Attorney General
to ensure that INEC performed the technical and operational work
necessary to make future elections credible. The Ambassador
informed Kayode of the recent visit by the U.S.-United Kingdome
(UK) Election Assessment Team and promised to forward its report to
him. She offered U.S. technical assistance to help improve the
voter registration list, a key problem for Nigeria's electoral
system, and noted the selective technical assistance that the U.S.
has provided to certain parts of the EFCC to improve capabilities
and performance.




5. (C) Kayode responded with his appreciation for "robust U.S.
involvement in democracy and good governance" in Nigeria." He
assured the Ambassador that his Ministry's mandate would be to
continue Yar'Adua's important reform goals, "but with more energy
and vigor" than done by the prior Attorney General. Kayode
informed the Ambassador that she will soon see that he is embarking
on a new strategy committed to democracy, good governance, and
anti-corruption. Addressing INEC's inefficiencies, Kayode said one

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of his priorities would be to ensure the court system reacted
quickly to INEC cases during elections, including charging members
of INEC if they became involved in fraud. The Ambassador noted the
USG view of INEC and its current chairperson, and that the USG
would not provide electoral technical assistance if the current
Chairperson remained on seat after the June 2010 expiry of his
term. Kayode agreed; the INEC chairman should be changed, noting
that he would be adding his voice to this effort. The Ambassador
then briefed the new Minister on the recent visit by the U.S.-UK
funded election assessment team, noting that a key recommendation
involved beginning the search now for an Iwu replacement. Kayode
noted that he believed efforts were already underway in this
regard. The new Attorney General then segued into Nigeria's
legislative process, which he cited as the reason for many of
INEC's and EFCC's failures. He then requested U.S. technical
support and pressure to help improve the situation.




6. (C) Noting the good working relationship that the U.S. maintains
with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on its
interdiction programs at airports, the Ambassador informed a
surprised Kayode of ten outstanding extradition requests, some
dating as far back as 2004, which the U.S. had been unable to
secure from the Attorney General's Office. She warned Kayode that
such egregious delays could negatively impact Nigeria's
certification. Kayode promised to address U.S. requests and
concerns, particularly on extraditions. He agreed with the
Ambassador that extraditions should move forward and that Nigeria
should comply with its extradition agreements and laws in a more
responsible manner. Kayode requested that Mission Nigeria provide
his staff with the details of the outstanding extraditions and
agreed that follow up meetings on the subject were necessary
between technical teams.




7. (C) Ambassador raised counter-terrorism issues, underscoring the
need for Nigeria to do several key things, including admitting
officially that terrorism is a possibility in Nigeria and that the
country is not immune to outside links with extremists; and passing
counter-terrorism legislation. Without these steps, she noted, it
would be hard to address USG concerns. She added that the U.S. for
several years had informed GON security services of these linkages
and GON officials needed to take more seriously such information.
Kayode took on board these points and said he would engage more on
these issues and seek briefings from his security services. He
also agreed to work with the National Assembly on passing the
counter-terrorism legislation.



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COMMENT

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8. (C) Acting President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Kayode to his
new position February 10, effectively ending Michael Aondoakaa's
reign of corruption. Kayode is not part of the ruling People's
Democratic Party (PDP) inner circle, although he formed part of
President Yar'Adua's legal team regarding challenges to the
latter's 2007 election. So, his actual role or influence within
the Jonathan administration remains as yet unclear.




9. (C) What is clear, however, is that as Minister of Labor and
Productivity, Kayode performed ineffectively. He failed to
negotiate sustainable and long term solutions to an unprecedented
number of actual or threatened strikes since he gained appointment
as Labor Minister in December 2008. His ineptitude as the
government's chief labor negotiator during academic union strikes
crippled public higher education for more than four months in 2009.
And after Mission Nigeria spent close to a month of planning for an
orientation visit to the U.S., we learned from one of Kayode's
staff aides that he never showed up for his meetings at the

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Department of Labor. Kayode's performance calls into question
whether he can serve as a reliable partner, particularly on the
issues the Ambassador presented to him during this introductory
call. On the other hand, however, Kayode's appointment as Attorney
General represents a sea-change from his predecessor -- a major
improvement that may help Acting President Jonathan send the
message that the corruption party has ended, if only for a short
time serving out the rest of Yar'Adua's term. END COMMENT.
SANDERS