US embassy cable - 05LAGOS366

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000366 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W 
STATE FOR DS/IP/AF 
STATE FOR INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2015 
TAGS: KDEM, KJUS, PGOV, PINS, PREL 
SUBJECT: ANAMBRA ELECTIONS: REVERSALS OF FORTUNE 
 
REF: 04 LAGOS 2353 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (D & E) 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Over the last month, five Anambra State 
election results from 2003 have been overturned, and the 
original PDP candidates installed.  This tussle is not so 
much one to recognize the real electoral victor but one to 
see which PDP faction controls the state.  For most of these 
elections, APGA probably was the genuine victor.  The most 
high profile case was that of Ben Obi, former Special Advisor 
to the National Security Advisor and an ally of Vice 
President Atiku and thus an enemy to Chris Uba, the Obasanjo 
loyalist who has tried to dominate PDP machinery in Anambra. 
In a series of meetings, Obi offered his perspectives on the 
illegitimacy of the electoral process, the interference in 
Anambra State politics by President Obasanjo, and the 
determination of the Anambra populace to resolve the crisis 
and gain control over their political future.  End Summary. 
 
 
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Five Anambra Elections Overturned 
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2.  (U) After 19 months of court battles, public scrutiny 
from the media, and pressure from his supporters in Anambra, 
Ben Obi's was the first seat to be returned to the original 
People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.  Following this 
ruling, four similar cases were resolved in February: Senator 
Joy Emordi (Anambra North) replaced Emman Anosike and in the 
House Golie Agbakoba (Onitsha) replaced Jessie Balonwu, Chief 
Alphonsus Igbeke (Anambra East/West) replaced Chief Raphael 
Okeke, and finally Chudi Offodile lost his seat to Chief O.C. 
Egwuatu who now represents the Awka North and South Federal 
constituency. 
 
3. (U) Backdrop: The elections in Anambra were among the most 
convoluted in what can only be considered, as a whole, a 
rather bad crop of elections in 2003.  First, the All 
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) probably carried the 
majority of the races but the PDP slate was declared 
victorious.  Second, after the initial pro-Atiku slate was 
deemed to have won, machinations within the PDP further 
sullied the results.  After the election results were 
announced, Chris Uba engineered a replacement of the 
pro-Atiku candidates with his own pro-Obasanjo slate of 
candidates.  It was these candidates that the Electoral 
Commission initially declared as winners notwithstanding the 
fact that their names had neither appeared on any ballots nor 
had they campaigned.  The rationale accepted for the 13th 
hour change was that the party, not the individual 
candidates, was what the voters had backed.  Thus, the party 
was at liberty to change candidates even after the voting had 
ended. 
 
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Obi Implicates Obasanjo in the Election Fiasco 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
4. (C) Obi told us President Obasanjo personally blocked his 
assumption of office.  Obi said he engendered Obasanjo's 
animosity when he criticized the role millionaire businessman 
(and Obasanjo loyalist) Chris Uba was playing in the state. 
Obi said Obasanjo "flew into a rage" and that Obi's been in 
the president's bad graces ever since.  Obi continued that 
Obasanjo's camp sees him as a threat because he "will not do 
anybody's bidding" and that because he refuses to be a member 
of Obasanjo's network, he is in direct conflict with the 
President and his minions. 
 
5. (C) According to Obi, following a late night meeting where 
all the senators agreed to swear him in, Obasanjo called 
Senate President Adolphus Wabara, ordering the Senate 
President to stop Obi from assuming his senate seat.  In 
fact, Obi was not sworn in on February 1 as originally 
scheduled.  Instead, the Senate asked for a further 
clarification of the Certificate of Return.  Obi insisted 
this delay was Wabara's attempt to appease Obasanjo.  Obi was 
finally sworn in the following day after the INEC Chairman 
testified Obi was the rightful victor of the election for the 
Anambra Central Senatorial district. 
6. (C) Obi was intensely critical of the President's 
"personal meddling" in Anambra.  He said that Obasanjo has a 
vested interest in keeping Anambra unstable, so that its 
leaders cannot pose a threat to his power.  He emphatically 
stated the President's disregard for government property and 
citizen welfare during the October 2004 riots was "criminal" 
(ref A).  Obi said that he himself would take Obasanjo to 
court for the President's criminal neglect during these 
incidents and for his unwillingness to resolve the conflict. 
(Comment:  This threat is empty bluster by Obi, but he 
indicated that he plans to pursue judicial action to recover 
the salary arrears for the two years he should have occupied 
his senate seat prior to being sworn in.  We have not seen 
any action to date on either of these complaints.  End 
Comment). 
 
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Alliances Forming Against Common Enemies 
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7. (C) Prior to his election, Obi acknowledged that he and 
Wabara had an adversarial relationship.  However, after 
taking the oath of office, Obi said that he went to Wabara 
and told him that his only intention was to "serve the 
interests of his people" and that he would go to any 
committee where Wabara wanted him to serve.  He told Wabara 
that he has no aspiration to be Senate Chair.  Wabara 
accompanied Obi on his most recent trip to Lagos, making a 
public show of their alliance and support for one another. 
Senator Obi was named Chairman of the Senate Service 
Committee. 
 
8. (C) Obi said that he and Governor Ngige had also 
previously had stark ideological and political differences. 
But now, because they have Obasanjo as a common enemy, they 
are allied.  The public's dislike of Uba has also redounded 
to Ngige's benefit, according to Obi.  Ngige is regarded as 
the underdog and the public sympathizes with a person who 
would do battle with the highest power.  Moreover, Ngige has 
managed to make public services function, despite the 
destruction of some of the official buildings where they are 
housed.  Another prominent Anambra traditional leader agreed 
saying, "Ngige is paying salaries." 
 
9. (C) Obi supports the concept of national dialogue and said 
that just after he was sworn in, he tried to convince his 
fellow senators to support the National Political Reform 
Conference.  Obi told us "they should not be frightened or 
feel threatened, because anything that is decided must come 
back to them to be ratified".  However, Obi believes that the 
conference is being presented to advance Obasanjo's own 
political agenda to achieve the third term the president so 
"desperately wants". 
 
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Comment 
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10. (C) All of the newly installed representatives as well as 
those who they replaced are from the ruling People's 
Democratic Party (PDP).  These recent events underscore the 
fractured nature of the party and the manipulation of INEC 
and the electoral process by PDP leaders in order to serve 
its interests.  In all of these cases, the courts determined 
that INEC has no power under the 1999 constitution to 
invalidate an election result that has already been declared. 
 The election reversals show that the judicial process has 
proved to be somewhat effective, albeit slow, in restoring a 
modicum of integrity to the electoral process. 
BROWNE