US embassy cable - 04LAGOS321

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 000321 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS GURNEY, LONDON AND NEARY, PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2008 
TAGS: PGOV, KDEM, PHUM, PINS, PINR, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: PDP OFFICIAL MURDERED 
 
REF: 2003 ABUJA 448 
 
Classified By: Consul-General Robyn Hinson-Jones for reasons 1.5 (b) an 
 
d (d). 
 
 1.  (U) On February 6, unknown assailants killed Chief 
Amino-Sari Dikibo, National Vice Chairman of the South-South 
Zone of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), as he was 
traveling to attend a Conference of South-South Governors in 
Asaba, Delta State.  Dikibo, who had a police escort and 
driver, was reportedly shot once in the head after two cars 
stopped in front of his convoy and turned around to pursue 
him along the Kwale-Ogwashi-Uku road in northeastern Delta 
State.  Observers who viewed the body and vehicle said 
Dikibo's skull was "shattered." 
 
2.  (U) In his monthly television address, President Olusegun 
Obasanjo, a PDP member, said Dikibo was killed by "a band of 
armed robbers," eleven of whom are now in police custody.  A 
press report indicates that Delta State highways experienced 
a spate of armed robberies last year and that on the day of 
Dikibo's death, armed gangs robbed several persons in the 
area.  The same report noted that the driver of Dikibo's 
vehicle and escorting police officers were neither harmed in 
the alleged robbery nor were they stained with blood, 
although brain matter and blood stained the back seat of the 
vehicle. 
 
3.  (U) Press commentators have noted the similarity between 
Dikibo's murder and the political killing in March 2003 of 
Marshall Harry, the National Vice Chairman for the 
South-South Zone for the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), 
the most popular opposition party to the PDP in the region 
(reftel).  Before his death, Harry, a former PDP politician, 
had repeatedly stated that he feared for his life.   He 
blamed his fears on Peter Odili, Governor of Rivers State, 
who, Harry said, wanted him killed. 
 
4.  (U) To obtain further details on the murder, POLOFF spoke 
with Delta State Attorney General (AG), A. A. Utuama February 
9.  Utuama confirmed that the National Police Force in Asaba 
is investigating the incident.  Utuama stated he had no 
further information beyond that reported by the press and an 
initial phone call from Delta State Governor James Ibori. 
(Standard procedure calls for a written report to be 
submitted to the AG after an investigation is complete, at 
which time the AG may recommend prosecution.)  Commissioner 
of Police for Delta State Charles Akaya told POLOFF February 
9 that he, too, could not discuss the case until he received 
clearance from headquarters in Abuja. 
 
5.  (C) COMMENT: The reported circumstances of Dikibo's death 
are not consistent with an armed robbery.  None of his 
possessions were taken and the description of the single 
gunshot wound to his head implies he was shot at close range. 
 Armed robberies in Nigeria usually involve automatic and 
semi-automatic weapons fired indiscriminately at victims.  If 
Dikibo's death is the result of a robbery, it is highly 
unusual that a driver seated in the car with the victim 
survived unscathed.  The reported facts of the shooting 
suggest an assassination. 
 
6.  (C) Motives for the possible assassination are unknown. 
However, it is unusual that high-ranking members of his own 
party, including the President, have so quickly dismissed his 
murder as a bungled robbery.  The relatively close timing of 
the murder to the anniversary of the assassination of 
Marshall Harry makes it difficult to simply dismiss Dikibo's 
death on the grounds that he simply was a man in the wrong 
place at the wrong time.  Circumstances point to various 
possibilities: a reprisal assassination by the ANPP avenging 
Harry, a PDP insider acting alone, or a calculated move 
within PDP.  Dikibo may have been on the wrong side of 
continuing feuds between the President and Vice President or 
a feud between the President and the southern governors, one 
of whom, James Ibori of Delta State, has been known to be 
involved in the killing of rivals.  END COMMENT. 
HINSON-JONES