US embassy cable - 04ABUJA405

UNCLAS ABUJA 000405 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: PARTIES WALK OUT ON INEC CONFERENCE 
 
 
1. Nigeria,s Independent National Electoral Commission 
(INEC) scheduled a "consultative" meeting with 28 of 
Nigeria,s currently registered 30 political parties on March 
2 to discuss the national Local Government Area (LGA) 
elections coming March 27.  Opposition parties reacted to 
INEC's excluding of two parties, the Alliance for Democracy 
(AD) and Progressive Action Congress (PAC), by walking out. 
In his opening remarks, Guobadia said the two parties were 
not invited because of disputes between factions as to who 
leads them.  Each party has two factions claiming to be its 
legal leader. 
 
2. Alhaji Balarabe Musa, National Chairman of the People,s 
Redemption Party (PRP) and Chairman of the opposition 
umbrella Consultative Convention of Nigerian Parties (CCNP), 
challenged INEC's exclusion of the two parties as "faulty and 
illegal."  He was the first to comment on the concerns of the 
other parties, stating that the law was clear in allowing the 
parties to attend.  His characterization of the exclusion as 
"a threat to the other parties" was echoed by many of the 
other parties' leaders.  In the ensuing debate about the 
exclusion, 22 parties walked out of the meeting and one of 
the two representatives of the largest opposition All 
Nigerian People,s Party (ANPP) joined them. 
 
3. The other ANPP representative, former Minister of the 
Federal Capital Territory Jeremiah Useni, remained in the 
meeting.  The other parties that remained are the ruling 
People,s Democratic Party (PDP), the New Democrats (ND), the 
National Mass Movement of Nigeria (NMMN) and the Africa 
Renaissance Party (ARP).  PDP and ANPP will field candidates 
for most of the LGA seats across the country.  The parties 
that walked out are somewhat smaller, and the NMMN, ND and 
ARP that stayed are smaller yet. 
ROBERTS