US embassy cable - 05LAGOS476

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000476 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W 
STATE FOR DS/IP/AF 
STATE FOR INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2015 
TAGS: NI, PGOV, PHUM, PREL 
SUBJECT: SHANTY TOWN DEMOLISHED IN PORT HARCOURT; THOUSANDS 
DISPLACED 
 
REF: MARCH 8 LITKE-EPSTEIN EMAIL 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reasons 1.4 (D & E) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  In early March, the Rivers State government 
demolished the bulk of the "Agip waterside" shanty-town in 
Port Harcourt.  Hundreds of dwellings have been leveled and 
thousands of people displaced.  Former residents say the 
government neither paid compensation nor offered alternative 
housing.   State House Assembly Speaker Rotimi Amaechi 
defended the actions as necessary to expand an adjacent road, 
but there is no on-going road work and many of the homes 
demolished were a substantial distance away from the road. 
Amaechi said alternative housing was inappropriate because 
the residents were all squatters, a claim local NGOs dispute. 
 End summary. 
 
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Rivers State Demolishes Shanty Town and Displaces Thousands 
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2. (SBU) On March 8, representatives from Movement for the 
Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) reported that Rivers 
State had demolished most of the "Agip waterside" shantytown 
(ref).  MOSOP estimated at least 5,000 people were evicted in 
the process.  The government told MOSOP the demolition was to 
further urban renewal. Photos of the demolished area are 
posted at www.stakeholderdemocracy.org/main/content/vie w/13/. 
 
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Mountains of Rubble, No Sign of A New Road 
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3. (SBU) Pol chief visited the area and confirmed hundreds of 
dwellings have been completely leveled and thousands left 
homeless.  The area looks as if it has suffered a natural 
disaster, with children and women sifting through mountains 
of rubble, trying to salvage what is left of their 
belongings.  Numerous individuals told pol-chief that the 
government initially marked a small section of homes for 
demolition.  Government officials reportedly said these 
specific homes were to be destroyed in order to expand the 
road.  However, the demolitions turned out to be much more 
extensive, and homes 50-100 yards from the road were affected. 
 
4. (SBU) The displaced claim the government only gave notice 
to residents whose homes they marked previously  (next to the 
roadside).  They further maintain the government neither paid 
compensation, nor offered alternative housing arrangements to 
the homeless.  Adding insult to injury, the displaced 
bitterly note that there is no road construction underway. 
 
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Government Feels No Obligation To Rehouse Displaced 
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5. (C) Rivers State House Assembly Speaker (and Governor 
Odili prot   Rotimi Amaechi told us the occupants were all 
illegal squatters.  (Note:  MOSOP claims many residents had 
valid occupancy certificates and that many had lived in the 
area for over a decade. End Note.) Amaechi maintained the 
demolitions were part of a road expansion project.  He added 
the state was concerned about "criminals" who find 
shanty-towns a convenient haven from which to operate. 
 
6. (C) Asked what was the state's plan for alternative 
housing, the speaker replied bluntly, "There is no plan. 
Those people were living there illegally."  Pressed as to 
whether he thought inhabitants would likely return to their 
villages in the absence of alternative accommodations, the 
speaker replied blithely, "I have no idea." 
 
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Residents Suspect Agip; Civil Society Feels Helpless 
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7.  (SBU) MOSOP told us it had written letters to Rivers 
State Governor Peter Odili and to Agip oil company on behalf 
of the residents.  The shanty-town lies adjacent to Agip's 
Port Harcourt headquarters.  Many residents believe the 
dwellings were demolished in order to facilitate unconfirmed 
rumors of Agip expansion.  Neither Agip nor the governor's 
offices have replied, according to MOSOP officials. (Note: 
MOSOP is involved in this issue because according to it, the 
vast majority of the shanty dwellers are Ogoni.  End Note.) 
 
8.  (C) MOSOP officials explained that given the "legacy of 
violence" against the Ogoni people, there was no resistance 
to these mass demolitions.  When pol-chief asked one woman 
milling about whether the inhabitants tried to prevent the 
demolitions or whether they had tried to present their case 
to the governor's office directly, she responded that the 
"Caterpillars came with Mopol (mobile policemen)." 
 
9. (C) On issues such as this, civil society leaders 
complained aggrieved people have no redress to their 
governmental representatives since these individuals owe the 
public no fealty.  Government representatives were all 
"selected" by power-brokers and therefore the threat to 
withhold your vote is hollow, they averred. 
 
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Comment 
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10. (C) These demolitions did not register a blip in the 
Nigerian national media and clearly they do not discomfit 
state officials.  It speaks volumes that the state government 
can in a single week displace thousands, without feeling 
compelled to take any ameliorating actions.   However, these 
types of demolition are not unheard of in Nigeria's major 
cities whose shanty-towns harbor the poorest of the poor. 
This is just another example of a state government's 
unnecessarily harsh treatment of its most hapless citizens. 
BROWNE