US embassy cable - 03LAGOS2640

Disclaimer: This site has been first put up 15 years ago. Since then I would probably do a couple things differently, but because I've noticed this site had been linked from news outlets, PhD theses and peer rewieved papers and because I really hate the concept of "digital dark age" I've decided to put it back up. There's no chance it can produce any harm now.

NIGERIA: TALE OF TWO CONVENTIONS

Identifier: 03LAGOS2640
Wikileaks: View 03LAGOS2640 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Consulate Lagos
Created: 2003-12-24 10:36:00
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Tags: PGOV KDEM NI
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

241036Z Dec 03
UNCLAS LAGOS 002640 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - HANDLE ACCORDINGLY 
 
LONDON FOR GURNEY, PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: TALE OF TWO CONVENTIONS 
 
REF: LAGOS 2527 
 
1.  (U) The Alliance for Democracy (AD) party parted in two 
when opposing groups held separate national conventions in 
Lagos and Abuja last week.  Plagued by infighting and the 
controversial self-appointment as party chairman of Ahmed 
Adamu Abdulkadir, President Obasanjo's Special Advisor on 
Manufacturing and the Private Sector (reftel), the two 
conventions disowned each other and thus widened the divide 
between the Abuja- and Lagos-based party militants. 
Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 
did not attend either convention because it did not want to 
legitimize either group before likely court action, and thus 
neither faction is officially recognized. 
 
 
2.  (U) As expected, the Lagos convention elected former Osun 
State Governor Bisi Akande as National Chairman, and expelled 
Abdulkadir from the party for alleged anti-party activities. 
Lagos Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was rumored to have 
bankrolled the Lagos convention, spoke to the delegates and 
reportedly vowed that the AD will be "the rallying point for 
the realignment of the progressive forces...(to) lead Nigeria 
in a new direction." 
 
3.  (U) The Abuja convention elected former AD Senate leader 
Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa as National Chairman.  Although 
Akinfenwa stated he will reconcile the differences in the 
party, Abuja delegates expelled both former AD National 
Secretary and party leader in the House of Representatives 
 
SIPDIS 
Chudi Nwike and the secretary of the recently dissolved 
National Convention Committee, Wunmi Bewaji, from the party 
for organizing the Lagos convention. 
GREGOIRE 

Latest source of this page is cablebrowser-2, released 2011-10-04