US embassy cable - 04ABUJA724

UNCLAS ABUJA 000724 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KCOR, NI 
SUBJECT: "INTERPOL" INTERVIEWS NIGERIA'S CHIEF JUSTICE 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY COUNSELOR JAMES MAXSTADT FOR REASONS 1.5 B AND 
D. 
 
1. (SBU) Chief Justice of Nigeria Mohammed Lawal Uwais met 
with a team of local and international law enforcement 
officers April 19 over a bribery scandal variously reported 
at 250 million Naira or 5 billion Naira.  Press reports named 
Ogbonna Onova, Deputy Inspector General of Police (CID), as 
the lead investigator for INTERPOL of an allegation that some 
Justices from the Supreme Court collected the payments to 
give a favorable judgement for Governor James Ibori of Delta 
State in an election tribunal.  The suit against Ibori's 2003 
election centers on Ibori not being eligible to run for 
election because of a previous conviction for fraud, and the 
bribe was allegedly for judges to allow submissions that the 
convicted Ibori was some other fellow named Ibori. 
 
2. (C) Supreme Court Registrar Danlami Senchi confirmed to 
Emboff that Chief Justice Uwais has given approval to the 
investigators to question other justices and staff of the 
Supreme Court.  In February, 2004, a group calling itself the 
"Derivation Front" distributed a document to media houses 
alleging that Ibori had bribed some Justices to get a 
favorable judgement.  Four days after the allegation, the 
Supreme Court delivered a judgement ruling that one James 
Onanefe Ibori had been convicted in the Bwari Area Court in 
1995, but sending the case back to the originating court to 
determine whether the Ibori of the Bwari case is actually 
Delta Governor Ibori.  Post has been unable to ascertain what 
the INTERPOL angle is -- Governor Ibori, the Justices, and 
the election are all Nigerian. 
 
3. (C) BACKGROUND: Ibori's real battle is with political 
chieftains from his own party, the ruling PDP, and stems from 
his ties to VP Atiku and PDP Governor Ngige of Anambra.  Two 
PDP members, Owolomo Agbi and Anthony Alabi, challenged 
Ibori's eligibility to hold office due to his previous court 
conviction.  Under Nigeria's Constitution, persons convicted 
of any among a wide range of crimes are barred from holding 
public office.  Fraud qualifies. 
ROBERTS