US embassy cable - 04ABUJA523

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 000523 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, NI 
SUBJECT: BUHARI'S SUIT CONTINUES, HE IS UPBEAT 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY CDA RICK ROBERTS FOR REASONS 1.5 (b) AND (d). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  Hearings continue at the Court of Appeals in 
ANPP candidate Buhari's legal challenge to Obasanjo's 
election as president, and Buhari is happy with how the 
election tribunal is going.  He and most observers at the 
trial believe the evidence being presented is helping his 
case, and a different election tribunal this week threw out 
the April 2003 election of the Adamawa state governor, a PDP 
protege of VP Atiku in Atiku's home state, saying that no 
proper elections had been held there.  According to Buhari's 
attorneys, they are wrapping up testimony and have presented 
evidence that either the elections or the announced results 
were flawed in at least 18 of Nigeria's 36 states.  The ANPP 
could wrap up its case  in the next three to four weeks and 
then attorneys for Obasanjo and the "Independent National 
Electoral Commission" (INEC) will have a chance to present 
witnesses in rebuttal.  Most observers expect a final 
decision in this tribunal sometime in the July-August 
timeframe.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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NWODO'S DAY IN COURT 
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2. (U) The ANPP election petition against President Obasanjo, 
Vice President Atiku and INEC over the conduct of the April 
2003 elections continues this week with testimony from Cross 
Rivers and Enugu states.  The highlight came on March 24 when 
another losing presidential aspirant, former Information 
Minister John Nwodo, took the stand.  Nwodo was forced to 
wait patiently while Obasanjo's attorney Afe Babalola 
objected to various parts of his testimony.  After the 
session, Nwodo told Poloff that he could easily smile and 
wait since he "knew the justices would admit the evidence." 
An attorney himself, Nwodo was one of the most effective 
witnesses to date, presenting a detailed description of 
events leading up to the 19 April Presidential election. 
 
3. (C) The judges, down to a panel of four now that Justice 
Oguntade has been moved to the Supreme Court, have shown 
signs of weariness but still appreciate the levity produced 
by the verbal sparring among the attorneys and witnesses.  An 
attorney himself, Nwodo limited his testimony to events in 
his home area, and countered the assertions by the attorneys 
for the President and for INEC that he was not being truthful 
in his testimony.  Nwodo began by claiming that Enugu state 
voters could only pick up their voter cards "at the houses of 
known PDP supporters."  Even he could not get his own card. 
Nwodo claimed the PDP Deputy Governor set up office in Enugu 
state's INEC headquarters and posted police and young men 
there that Nwodo said he "believed were PDP party thugs." 
 
4. (U) Nwodo said he had objected to many of the names on the 
list of INEC-appointed staff because it included known PDP 
supporters, among them three first cousins of the Deputy 
Governor.  Nwodo claimed the level of violence in the April 
12 National Assembly election contributed to a low turnout at 
the April 19 President, VP and Governors election, but said 
that it did not matter since "no elections officials were at 
the polls in my Local Government Area" on April 19.  His team 
visited each of the 192 polling sites and he personally 
visited 43; not one polling site was in operation. 
Similarly, he said there was no activity at the 20 collation 
centers at the end of the day, but results were announced on 
the radio while they were still making rounds of the centers. 
 
5. (U) Nwodo told the court he had personally witnessed three 
shootings during the April 12 election and made a video that 
showed ballot stuffing, ballot boxes being stolen, and 
interviews with elections officials who said their materials 
had been confiscated by the police.  The Deputy Governor came 
to his compound with a group of police at the end of the 
National Assembly elections and demanded that he surrender 
the video tape, Nwodo claimed.  Unable to gain access to the 
Nwodo family compound, the police began firing into the 
compound and continued firing for "nearly two hours."  Five 
of his family members were wounded.  "They only stopped when 
the villagers organized to confront them, forcing the Deputy 
Governor and the police to abandon the bus they arrived in." 
Nwodo said that the "burnt out carcass" of the bus remains in 
front of his compound to this day. 
 
6. (U) Obasanjo's attorney Babalola asked Nwodo why he had 
not filed a complaint.  Nwodo said he had filed a complaint 
with the Enugu police commissioner and copied it to the GON's 
Inspector General of Police and the GON's INEC Chairman along 
with copies of his video.  "Until now, the police have not 
responded," he averred.  Nwodo was effective at countering 
the assertions by the attorneys for the President and for 
INEC that he was not being truthful in his testimony.  At one 
point, a frustrated Babalola complained about one of Nwodo's 
responses and told the Justices, "That's OK.  We can amend 
the responses later."  And after Babalola accused Nwodo of 
giving false testimony, Nwodo responded that as a sworn 
officer of the court, under oath, and married to a judge, it 
would be impossible for him to lie.  Eliciting laughter from 
the entire room, Tambaye asked Nwodo to put his responses in 
"simple grammar" since the Justices were recording the 
proceedings in longhand. 
 
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ADAMAWA'S TRIBUNAL THROWS OUT THE GOVERNOR ELECTION THERE 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
7. (C) The mood in the court was already one of anticipation, 
as everyone awaited word of the outcome of the ANPP's case 
against the gubernatorial elections in Adamawa, the VP 
Atiku's home state.  The courtroom was full, as it has been 
most days since the proceedings began several months ago. 
Buhari's attorneys told Poloff they are wrapping up testimony 
and have presented evidence that either the elections or the 
announced results were flawed in at least 18 states.  Having 
almost completed the testimony about non-voting and security 
issues, they said they will turn to presenting some of the 
most egregious examples of clear manipulation of the results 
by INEC.  They could wrap up the case in the next three to 
four weeks, after which the President's attorneys will have a 
chance to present testimony to support their pleadings.  Most 
observers expect a final decision in this tribunal sometime 
in the July-August timeframe and the Supreme Court should not 
deliberate long, as an appeal would be limited to the 
technical aspects of the case. 
 
8. (C)  As reports from Adamawa indicated the election of the 
PDP governor had been overturned, an unusually exuberant 
Buhari told Poloff he was happy that the legal process was 
finally starting to produce some results.  Buhari said he 
remained concerned about "pressure and threats" on the judges 
in the tribunal hearing his case against the elections. 
 
9. (C) COMMENT:  Buhari and his team seem to sense that the 
end of the trial is approaching and to be catching their 
second wind in a process that could last for nearly half of 
Obasanjo's term before the issues of his election are 
resolved.  Committed, for now, to the legal process, Buhari 
seems to be relishing the limelight, and is as anxious for 
the vindication as he is for overturning the election.  With 
the Adamawa decision in, the ANPP and Buhari think that the 
tide has turned and that many more options favorable to their 
position will present themselves in the near future.  They 
hope to travel to Washington, in part to gain USG views on 
options. 
ROBERTS