US embassy cable - 05ABUJA771

UNCLAS ABUJA 000771 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR P, PA AND SA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958; N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, KISL, NI 
SUBJECT:  NIGERIA - OUTREACH ON NEWSWEEK STORY 
 
REF:  STATE 90992 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR POSTING ON THE 
INTRANET OR INTERNET. 
 
1. (SBU) Post has been pursuing the Newsweek story 
since it surfaced in the Nigerian press on May 9.  Most 
versions, and all in the beginning, were repeats of 
foreign media reports of demonstrations/riots in 
Afghanistan.  The Nigerian Government is aware that the 
story could be used to incite violence, and its media 
have basically stayed low-key in reporting the Newsweek 
allegation only as a cause of the Afghan violence.  The 
mainstream private print media has followed suit, and 
we are now seeing reporting in the same low key on 
Newsweek's retraction.  Post has disseminated the 
Secretary's statement and then the Newsweek retraction 
 
SIPDIS 
(reftel) widely among the media. 
 
2. (SBU) In addition to the GON's caution, we were 
quite frankly helped by the fact that the large Muslim 
community in Nigeria is seized with many other issues 
at the moment, issues that have gained more prominence 
in Nigeria's media than the Newsweek story.  One main 
Islamist rabblerouser, for example, apparently has been 
distracted by the latest public battle (septel) between 
his followers and those of the Sultan of Sokoto, 
battles that have killed several Nigerians.  The 
Nigerian private-sector media has also been engrossed 
in reporting efforts by National Assembly legislators 
to impeach President Obasanjo, Nigeria's very public 
quest for debt relief, and the arrest and trial for 
corruption of the Education Minister and Senate 
President.  There have been no demonstrations regarding 
the Newsweek allegation, and no Nigerian official or 
Muslim leader has made a public statement about the 
Newsweek story or about the demonstrations that 
followed elsewhere.  No Nigerian official has raised 
the issue in private meetings with us either. 
 
3. (U) There will be residual damage from the Newsweek 
allegation.  It has entered the popular imagination of 
Nigerian Muslims.  Moreover, it can be used by any 
Nigerian politico who wants to gain Muslim support by 
dinging us, even far into the future.  The one 
newspaper that ran Nigerian angles to the Newsweek 
story was the Triumph, owned by the opposition-run Kano 
State government.  Kano's Governor Shekarau, we note, 
is the one who prohibited polio immunization in his 
state on the grounds it was allegedly a western attempt 
to render Muslims infertile -- allegations against the 
polio vaccine dredged up from old blogs on U.S. 
websites.  Kano's vaccination ban re-infected countries 
as far afield from Nigeria as Indonesia.   Anyone 
seeking publicity can dredge up this Newsweek issue 
down the road to mobilize a demonstration too, most 
likely against the GON as well as against us. 
 
4. (SBU) Although the Triumph has already reported the 
Newsweek retraction, our CPAO is meeting with editors 
from that paper and others today May 17 to make the 
reftel points, and will make the rounds of the 
electronic media again tomorrow.  Post has a strong 
outreach program to Nigeria's 70 million Muslims, and 
will continue to emphasize those efforts. 
FUREY