US embassy cable - 01ABUJA1365

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001365 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2011 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, ECON, NI 
SUBJECT: OBASANJO DROPS FOUR MINISTERS, FOUR SENIOR ADVISORS 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 1312 
     B. ABUJA 0201 
 
 
Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter, reasons 1.5(B/D) 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
1. (C) On June 12, President Obasanjo dropped four Ministers 
and four Senior Advisors from his Administration, one 
spokesman framing the changes in terms of "accountability, 
performance, and integrity."  So far, three replacements have 
been named for the Ministers, none for the Advisors.  It 
appears that two Ministers fell due to on-going feuds with 
their home state Governors, the two others due to lack of 
performance.  Similarly, two advisors fell for poor 
performance, one for tensions with his Governor, and one for 
medical reasons.  Overall, the changes represent a modest 
repositioning of the Administration's focus on delivering 
real benefits to Nigerians, and replacing those who threaten 
harmonious relations with state executives essential to 
re-election bids in 2003.   End Summary. 
 
 
2.  (U) On June 12, in a surprise evening statement issued by 
the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ufot 
Ekaette, the Obasanjo Administration announced that four 
Ministers and four Senior Advisors had been dropped: Minister 
of Water Resources Col. (Ret.) Mohammed Kaliel; Minister of 
Communications Mohammed Arzika; Minister of State for the 
Federal Capital Territory Solomon Ewuga; Minister of State 
for Power and Steel Danjuma Goje; Special Advisor for 
Economic Affairs Phillip Asiodu; Special Advisor for 
International Relations Dr. Patrick Dele-Cole; Senior Special 
Assistant for Drugs and Financial Crimes Dr. Irahim Lame, and 
Special Assistant for Special Duties Dr. Bukola Saraki. 
 
 
Three Dropped for Feuding 
------------------------- 
3.  (C) Several sources within the Presidency confirmed to us 
the dismissal from the Administration of officials who had 
been quarreling with their home state Governors, a notable 
offense in contemporary Nigerian politics, even where the 
Governor in question is of an opposition political party. 
According to Minister of Information Jerry Gana, who met with 
Poloff June 14, both Ministers of State, Solomon Ewuga and 
Danjuma Goje, fell due to on-going disputes with their 
Governors (Abdullahi Adamu of Nassarawa (PDP) and Abubakar 
Hashidu of Gombe (APP), respectively).  Gana noted that he 
had personally tried to intercede several times in Nassarawa, 
considering both men to be "friends," but had not succeeded 
in reconciling them.  Ewuga had been elected as Deputy 
Governor under Adamu under the banner of the ruling People's 
Democratic Party in 1999, and the two men had "fought" 
continually ever since, Gana noted.  He also briefly noted 
that Goje had very sour relations with the Gombe State 
Governor, a member of the opposition All People's Democratic 
Party.  Among the Advisors, Gana named Dr. Lame as one guilty 
of quite poor relations with Governor Adamu Mu'azu of Bauchi 
State (PDP).  A senior Presidency official made similar 
comments to DCM the evening of June 13, saying that Obasanjo 
had twice admonished Ministers to "respect the Governors' 
executive authority."  Said Gana, summing up the nature of 
the offense: "Governors have a stronger voice." (Comment: 
Several APP Governors-elect, including Hashidu of Gombe, 
quietly swung their states behind Obasanjo in the 1999 
Presidential elections.  End Comment). 
 
 
Four Canned for Poor Performance 
-------------------------------- 
4.  (C) Gana cited Minister Kaliel of Water Resources and 
Minister Arzika of Communications for particularly poor 
performance (Adobe Obe, Special Assistant to President 
Obasanjo, echoed this assessment in a separate conversation). 
 He noted that the President, and indeed the entire Federal 
Executive Council (the Nigerian Cabinet) had been incensed at 
the lack of any real progress on water projects nation-wide 
from the Federal Government.  "The State Governments are 
delivering," said Gana, "but we do nothing."  Two months ago, 
said Gana, the President delivered an ultimatum to Kaliel: 
show results on the ground or face dismissal.  The earlier 
pledge by the Obasanjo Administration to complete at least 
two borehole projects in each of the nation's 774 local 
government councils would be the test.  Said Gana, "they did 
little or nothing since then." 
 
 
5.  (C) Alluding to rampant corruption in the Ministry, Gana 
then said that "they exercised very poor oversight," and 
"fell in with the wrong crowd of contractors."  Many 
contracts went no further than the collection of 
"mobilization fees" by contractors, who took the start-up 
money and "disappeared."  Gana also briefly noted that Arzika 
had never made any progress in updating the nation's 
telecommunications infrastructure (sources at the Central 
Bank also told Econoff June 14 that he resolutely opposed 
privatization of NITEL, the telephone parastatal).  Gana put 
the failings of the two Ministers this way: "Lights, phones, 
water; those three things we must do.  The guys at Power and 
Steel are making some progress.  These guys did not." 
6.  (C) Gana then commented briefly on the performance of 
Phillip Asiodu.  Agreeing that Asiodu had been warring with 
the office of the Vice President for months, he said Asiodu 
was "out of touch, out of date, unable to keep up."  Former 
Chief of Staff to Asiodu, Chief Akindele, told Poloff June 13 
that Asiodu's dismissal had been pending for several months, 
and that the "friction" with the Vice President had never 
been dealt with properly.  "Asiodu did not manage his 
relationship with the Vice President."  Akindele also noted 
that "the Vice President's office duplicated everything we 
were doing," leaving little independence to Asiodu's 
operations. (Comment: The Office of the Vice President has 
broad supervisory authority on privatization and deregulation 
efforts, in conjunction with the Bureau of Public Enterprises 
(BPE). End Comment).  Akindele, who resigned two months ago, 
said that, "the President told me himself when I left that he 
would fire Asiodu soon."  Econoff received similar messages 
from Akindele and BPE's Nasir Al-Rufai in recent weeks.  In 
fact, at one point, Econoff was asked by advisors to both 
Asiodu and the Vice President to "back" their principals for 
the lead on bilateral economic relations with the USG. 
 
 
7.  (C) Similarly, Special Assistant Bukola Saraki, Gana 
said, had been dismissed for performance well below that 
expected by the President.  Gana said Saraki (son of APP 
power-broker Olusola Saraki) had formed part of a "crack" 
intelligence unit within the Presidency, a unit intended to 
be "the eyes and ears" of the President, focusing on field 
oversight of Ministerial performance.  The President wanted 
to be able to puncture the performance claims of Ministers 
with his own gimlet-eyed reports on their supposed 
achievements, but the unit "mainly stayed in the office," and 
never functioned as intended, Gana said. 
 
 
One Dropped for Health Reasons 
------------------------------ 
8.  (C) Gana said that Special Advisor for International 
Affairs  Dr. Patrick Dele-Cole was the one official dropped 
for purely personal reasons, due to his failing health.  Dele 
Cole (long known to be exhausted by the long hours and fast 
pace in the immediate vicinity of the President) had 
developed an embarrassing tendency to drift off to sleep in 
meetings with foreign Heads of State.  Chairman of the House 
Committee on Foreign Affairs Adamu Bulkachuwa also mentioned 
this to Poloff June 13.  (From our own experience, Dele-Cole 
fell into a noisy slumber in four separate meetings during 
Obasanjo,s recent Washington visit, to the palpably deep 
embarrassment of his Nigerian colleagues).  Gana said 
Dele-Cole needed surgery for the condition, which involved an 
inability to sleep when prostrate.  "Some sort of nasal 
blockage," Gana said. 
 
 
The Time for Plans is Over: We Need Results 
------------------------------------------- 
9.  (C) Gana finished by saying that hard work, good plans 
and the best of intentions on the part of Ministers and 
Advisors were no longer enough.  "We need results."  The 
President and others in the Administration were keenly aware 
that Nigerians wanted to see their lives getting better 
"now."  What they see, he said candidly, is "high prices, gas 
lines, no water."  Gana suggested that the present changes in 
the Administration's personnel would likely "not be the only 
ones," as the President was determined to find the "right 
mix" and "make things happen." 
 
 
Three Replacements Named 
------------------------ 
10.  (C) The Obasanjo team submitted three nominations for 
the four vacated Ministerial posts, former Customs Controller 
General Bello Mohammed, former Sokoto Attorney General 
Mukhtari Shagari (son of former Head of State Shehu Shagari) 
and businessman Murtala Aliyu.  They will likely replace 
Arzika at Communications, Kaliel at Water Resources and Goje 
at Power and Steel, respectively (in Nigerian practice, 
nominations are never made for particular positions, but the 
usual protocol is to replace one state's failed Minister with 
a resident of the same state).  No nominations have yet been 
submitted for the Advisor positions (the Special Advisor 
positions also require Senate confirmation).  In 
conversations with DCM June 13, Senate President Anyim Pius 
Anyim said that no Minister of State would be nominated for 
the FCT, as the senior Minister, Abba-Gana, would be given 
time to "make his mark" on his own (he has been in office 
since the last Cabinet shake-up in February.  Reftel). 
 
 
Comment 
------- 
11.  (C) The Obasanjo Administration's small Cabinet shake-up 
reflects a growing realization that measurable results are 
increasingly important as it begins its third year in office, 
an imperative we highlighted in our review of the 
Administration's first two years, Ref A.  Nasir Al-Rufai 
previously identified Asiodu and Arzika to us as two of the 
five ministers most opposed to privatization; we may now see 
a modest quickening of the move toward privatized state 
entities.  Dropping Ministers and others who clash with their 
home state Governors also reflects the premium value Obasanjo 
places on good relations with the nation's 36 state 
Governors, who are now real players on the national political 
scene, and a growing political phenomenon.  The Governors' 
good wishes (or at least tolerance) are essential to any 
Presidential nominee's chances in 2003. 
 
 
12.  (C) Comment Continued.  Unfortunately, geo-political 
balancing requires that state and regional interests often 
take precedence over acumen and experience: we will now 
likely have a lawyer at Water Resources, a retired Customs 
official at Communications, and a businessman at Power and 
Steel (this last making the most sense to us in terms of 
actual experience).  The need for results once again 
conflicts at least in part with the need to shore up 
political support and maintain the carefully negotiated 
parceling out of senior government positions.  Real progress 
for average Nigerians may not be the result.  End Comment. 
 
 
Jeter