US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1181

UNCLAS ABUJA 001181 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DS/IP/AF, DS/ICI/PII 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KCOR, ASEC, NI 
SUBJECT: DEMONSTRATORS ALLEGE IMPROPRIETY BY EDO STATE 
GOVERNOR REGARDING BURN VICTIM ASSISTANCE 
 
1.  Summary:  A group advocating for Edo State burn victims 
delivered a letter to the Embassy accusing the Edo State 
governor of improper handling of burn victim assistance 
funds.  End Summary. 
 
2.  On Tuesday morning, June 29, about 50 demonstrators 
disembarked from a bus and assembled in a traffic circle 
about 100 meters from the embassy, where mobile police 
prevented them from approaching.  When RSO told the 
demonstrators they couldn't protest there, they presented RSO 
with a letter "for the ambassador." 
 
3.  The letter is from the Kerosene Fire Victims Welfare 
Association (KEVA), a group acting on behalf of the over 
1,000 victims of a series of explosions and fires in Edo 
State in 2001.  Background:  The explosions are recounted on 
a Lagos-based NGO's website: 
.  End Background. 
 
4.  In the letter, KEVA objects to a Memorandum of 
Understanding between the Edo State government and the Body 
Enhancement Annual Reconstructive Surgery (BEARS) foundation, 
to carry out plastic surgery for about 50 burn victims. 
BEARS will arrange for a group of American plastic surgeons 
to visit Nigeria to perform the surgery, at a total cost of 
N106 million (about $752,000). 
 
5.  KEVA alleges that the Edo government will pay the BEARS 
foundation from a fund of donations that the government has 
received as a trustee for the victims.  The victims, 
therefore, essentially will be paying for their own surgery, 
contradicting the BEARS Foundation's mission that all 
surgeries performed through BEARS are at no cost to the 
victims. 
 
6.  KEVA accuses Edo State Governor Chief Lucky Igbinedion of 
arranging the surgeries at Igbinedion Hospital in Okada, Edo 
State, which is owned by the Governor's father.  KEVA further 
claims that Igbinedion Hospital was built on land that was 
illegally confiscated from the community. 
 
7.  The World Health Organization (WHO), says KEVA, has 
offered to perform the surgery overseas for free, helping 200 
patients at a total cost of N26 million (about $185,000) for 
transportation only. 
 
8.  Comment.  The demonstrators arrived and departed quietly 
after presenting their letter to RSO.  When Emboff went to 
discuss the matter, the group was already leaving the area. 
End Comment. 
CAMPBELL