US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1118

UNCLAS ABUJA 001118 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, CASC, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: PLATEAU STATE UPDATE:  EMERGENCY POWERS APPROVED, 
COURT CHALLENGES FILED 
 
 
1.  On June 1, both houses of the National Assembly approved 
President Obasanjo's petition to establish emergency powers 
under Plateau State's State of Emergency (SOE).  Included in 
the petition are sections regarding detention of persons, 
curfew, processions and meetings, and control of arms and 
explosives.  The President's petition calls for summary 
trials and convictions for violators, and gives the sole 
administrator the power to detain persons indefinitely. 
 
2.  Although the President based his petition on Nigeria's 
Emergency Powers Act of 1961, the Senate stripped any 
reference to that act from the approved version of the 
petition.  The House then modified its version, and the 
President signed the bill into law. 
 
3.  Also on June 1, civil rights activists, including 
National Conscience Party chairman Chief Gani Fawehinmi, 
filed two suits in Federal High Court in Abuja while the 
National Assembly was debating the emergency powers petition. 
 The suits seek a judicial determination whether whether 
President Obasanjo's actions under the SOE, including the 
suspension of the elected governor and state Assembly and 
appointment of a sole administrator, are constitutional.  The 
two suits also claim that because the Emergency Powers Act of 
1961 is no longer valid, the President's emergency powers 
petition is invalid, an argument the Senate sought to head 
off by removing references to the 1961 Act.  On June 16, the 
GON responded to the lawsuits by seeking to have them 
dismissed on minor legal technicalities.  On June 21, the 
Abuja High Court ruled that three of the lawsuits should be 
consolidated into a single case and scheduled a hearing for 
July 15-17. 
 
4.  On June 4 at a breakfast meeting, Gen. Alli was sworn in 
as the Plateau State sole administrator by President 
Obasanjo.  Meanwhile, the suspended Plateau State Assembly 
challenged the body's suspension in Abuja and Jos courts, 
claiming that the Assembly was ready to perform its 
constitutional duties and should not have been suspended.  On 
June 21, the Federal High Court in Jos adjourned the case to 
July 2. 
CAMPBELL