US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1013

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001013 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KDEM, PHUM, KCOR, EAID, NI 
SUBJECT: INEC SEEKS PARTY DE-REGISTRATION POWERS -- OR NOT? 
 
REF: A. 03 ABUJA 2150 
 
     B. 03 ABUJA 2046 
     C. 03 ABUJA 1975 
 
CLASSIFIED BY COUNSELOR JAMES MAXSTADT FOR REASONS 1.5 (b) 
and (d). 
 
1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Nigerian press reported that INEC 
Permanent Secretary Abubakar Jauro on June 2 had asked the 
National Assembly to grant the Independent National Electoral 
Commission (INEC) the power to "de-register and 
sanction...erring political parties."  Claiming that INEC had 
been unable to fulfill its oversight functions, Jauro 
reportedly told lawmakers that INEC at present could neither 
register nor de-register parties, and therefore this 
authority was necessary to ensure that political parties did 
not misuse funds.  Following Embassy enquiries, INEC's 
Director of Public Affairs Steve Osemeke told the press that 
Jauro had made no such request.  An INEC Commissioner, 
however, confirmed that INEC was seeking authority to 
de-register political parties, and suggested that INEC could 
"formalize" the request soon.  While there are indeed some 
political parties that are essentially fronts, only in 
business to pocket GON election campaign subsidies, it is 
widely feared that the rather less than "Independent" INEC 
would use any de-registration powers against President 
Obasanjo's rather more real opponents.  END SUMMARY. 
 
DE-REGISTRATION REARS ITS HEAD AGAIN 
 
2.  (U) INEC Permanent Secretary Abubakar Jauro briefed 
members of the House of Assembly Committee on Public Account 
on June 2 to defend the INEC budget.  The press reported that 
Jauro asked the National Assembly grant INEC the power to 
"de-register and sanction...erring political parties."  He 
complained that many of Nigeria's thirty political parties 
"ignored INEC guidelines" and "engaged in a "hide and seek 
game" with election campaign funds from the GON.  Claiming 
that INEC had been unable to fulfill its oversight functions, 
Jauro reportedly asked the National Assembly to modify the 
Constitution or the Electoral Act to increase INEC's powers 
to discipline political parties. 
 
3.  (U) INEC had spoken last year about gaining such 
de-registration powers but had backed down in the face of 
fears that such powers would be used against the opposition 
(reftels).  Embassy made enquiries to INEC about Jauro's 
testimony June 2, but INEC did not respond.  Instead, a 
letter from INEC's Director of Public Affairs Steve Osemeke 
was published in the press on June 4 denying the entire 
incident.  Osemeke claimed that Jauro made no such request 
for powers to de-register political parties, but rather 
"lamented" the inability of INEC to carry out its financial 
oversight functions. 
 
4.  (SBU) An INEC commissioner, however, confirmed to EmbOffs 
June 4 that INEC was again seeking the authority to 
discipline, and even de-register, parties.  "The (Permanent 
Secretary) was expressing the view of the Chairman and INEC 
 
SIPDIS 
itself," the Commissioner claimed.  He said that "no formal 
request was made," but that INEC was likely to formalize the 
matter soon with a letter requesting the National Assembly 
make the appropriate amendments. 
 
ACCOUNTING FOR INEC FUNDS 
 
5.  (U) Jauro's briefing to the National Assembly was to have 
dealt with INEC's 2003 accounts, specifically INEC's alleged 
failure to submit those accounts to Nigeria's Auditor 
General.  Jauro told the National Assembly that complaints 
about INEC's failure to submit its books were unfounded. 
While admitting that the books had not been submitted to the 
Auditor General, Osemeke claimed in his letter to the press 
that the deadline for submission to the Auditor General was 
not until June.  He went on to "enjoin" all media houses to 
"shun sensational stories" to make sure the general public is 
not fed "falsehoods" by the media. 
 
COMMENT 
 
6.  (C) While criticism dogs INEC in the wake of the flawed 
2003 national elections and the failure of the 2004 local 
elections, there is a continuing problem with "front" parties 
that exist only to pocket GON election campaign subsidies. 
Civil society has proposed to INEC several ways other than 
party de-registration to halt the misuse of funds, including 
a cutoff of funding to parties that do not gain a minimal, 
set percentage of the vote -- as is the practice in the U.S. 
and many other democracies.  It is widely feared that the not 
very "Independent" INEC is using the public's desire for 
reducing the siphoning off of election funding by parties 
that are not real, to gain powers that would be used instead 
to harass the very real opposition parties.  Given INEC's 
checkered past and the partisan nature of its current crop of 
Commissioners (reftels), allowing INEC subjective authority 
to de-register political parties would be a serious problem 
for democracy in Nigeria. 
ROBERTS