US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1318

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001318 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2014 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: GET LALONG, LITTLE DOGIES:  PLATEAU SPEAKER 
"WANTED" BY POLICE 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 1279 AND PREVIOUS 
 
     B. ABUJA 1277 
 
Classified By: ACTING POLITICAL COUNSELOR RUSSELL J. HANKS FOR REASONS 
1.5 (B) AND (D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  On July 26, the Plateau State police 
commissioner declared that suspended Plateau State Assembly 
Speaker Simon B. Lalong was wanted for interrogation. 
Lalong, on a trip to London for medical treatment, returned 
to Nigeria on July 28, where he told Poloffs that he expected 
to be "detained" indefinitely in order to stop the lawsuit 
against the Assembly's suspension from going forward.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  (C) Poloffs met with suspended Plateau State Assembly 
Speaker Simon B. Lalong on July 28, shortly after his abrupt 
return from a medical trip to London, in his room in an 
out-of-the-way, very-low-budget Abuja motel.  Lalong told 
Poloffs that he had just arrived in Abuja that morning and 
was keeping a low profile while waiting for his legal team to 
arrive from Jos.  He had cut his trip short when friends in 
Nigeria e-mailed him to tell him that police announced he was 
wanted. 
 
3.  (U) On July 26, the Plateau State police commissioner had 
declared that Lalong was wanted for interrogation.  The 
commissioner's remarks were cryptic:  "I can't tell you what 
I want to see him for.  If I do, I am letting the cat out of 
the bag."  Media reports linked the commissioner's comments 
with the alleged killings of eight people in Yelwa-Shendam, 
site of the May 2004 communal violence that claimed hundreds 
of lives (reftel A).  Lalong is a native of nearby Shendam. 
 
4.  (C) Lalong told Poloffs that the police announcement was 
a ploy by Plateau State Sole Administrator M. Chris Alli to 
derail two lawsuits, one before the Supreme Court, the other 
before the Abuja High Court (reftel B).  The Abuja High Court 
case is scheduled to be heard July 29.  Both suits were filed 
by the suspended members of the Plateau State Assembly to 
contest their suspension under the State of Emergency (SOE). 
Lalong speculated that if he were imprisoned or killed, 
enough other Assembly members would withdraw from the 
lawsuits for them to be dropped.  He said there was no reason 
for the police commissioner to make a public announcement 
that Lalong's whereabouts were unknown, since his police 
surveillance detail had followed him to the airport the 
previous week, and "everyone" knew he was going to London for 
medical treatment. 
 
5.  (C) Lalong said he feared for his safety, which is why he 
was keeping a low profile in the Abuja motel until his 
lawyers arrived in Abuja from Jos.  He promised to request 
that his legal team keep Poloff updated of his status.  Post 
will continue to monitor and report. 
 
6.  (C) Comment.  The SOE has not been a political failure 
for President Obasanjo so far, but if the Assembly's legal 
challenges succeed, he may lose his grip on Plateau State 
politics. Both the President and Alli have an incentive for 
helping the lawsuits disappear, possibly by making Lalong 
disappear.  If Lalong is detained, regular Embassy inquiries 
about his status may be--literally--a lifeline for him.  End 
Comment. 
CAMPBELL