US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1119

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 001119 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIAN LEGISLATORS THREATEN PRESIDENT OBASANJO 
WITH IMPEACHMENT...IS IT MORE THAN A BLUFF THIS TIME? 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 451 
 
     B. 04 ABUJA 1381 
     C. ABUJA 514 
     D. ABUJA 115 
     E. ABUJA 1086 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Russell J. Hanks for Reasons 1.4 (b) 
 and (d) 
 
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Summary 
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1.  (U) On May 3, members of Nigeria's lower house initiated 
steps to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo, listing 19 
impeachable offenses against the president, generally related 
to the Obasanjo's altering or ignoring decisions of the 
National Assembly.  The impeachment's prime movers say about 
200 legislators have signed up, but House leadership says 
fewer actually did.  Many observers dismiss the move as 
blackmail to gain more money from the President.  With the 
House on recess for six weeks, the momentum of the move is in 
doubt, but critics point to the sudden release of a "welfare 
package" totaling 61 billion naira (about USD 465 million) to 
the legislators by the President as a "settlement," likely 
ending the impeachment threat. 
 
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In the Beginning 
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2.  (U) On May 3, members of Nigeria's lower house initiated 
steps to impeach President Olusegun Obasanjo.  Bashir Idris 
Nadabo, (ANPP, Katsina State), served notice of impeachment 
to his colleagues, listing 16 offenses that the President has 
allegedly committed (two days later, the number of offenses 
increased to 19, and may now be up to 21).  Generally, the 
offenses relate to Obasanjo's "unilateral" actions, taken 
without appropriate consultations with the National Assembly. 
 A few examples of the offenses of which Obasanjo is accused: 
 
--"Unilateral doctoring" of the 2005 national budget (from 
N1.8 trillion to N1.7 trillion) after it had been passed by 
the National Assembly. 
 
--Unilaterally granting loans of USD 40 million to Ghana and 
USD 5 million to Sao Tome and Principe. 
 
--Refusal to appoint a federal minister for petroleum and 
unofficially using his son, Gbenga as de facto petroleum 
minister. 
 
--Unilaterally granting asylum to embattled Liberian 
president, Charles Taylor. 
 
--Allowing the demolition of houses in the Abuja satellite 
town of Kubwa in disregard to a resolution by the House 
asking the demolition to stop (Ref A). 
 
--Fuelling the political crises in several states, including 
Anambra and Rivers. 
 
--Involvement in a bribery scandal related to the sale of the 
aluminum smelter to a Russian company after an American 
company had been identified as the winning bidder (Ref B). 
 
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Impeachment as a Weapon 
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3.  (U) Both the House and the Senate have been unhappy with 
Obasanjo for some time.  The Senate was the first to threaten 
Obasanjo with impeachment over the 2005 budget modifications, 
but there have been several previous attempts to impeach 
Obasanjo in the last six years.  During Obasanjo's first 
term, the House leadership perfected the impeachment threat, 
waving it whenever Obasanjo stepped on sensitive toes at the 
National Assembly. 
 
4.  (C) Many believe that the current impeachment threat 
arose after President Obasanjo's March 22 nationwide 
broadcast in which he pointedly said the National Assembly 
was "wallowing in corruption" (Ref C).  Many legislators have 
publicly expressed their unhappiness with Obasanjo's broad 
brush of accusation.  Undoubtedly, there is also the concern 
among legislators that following the fall of Senate President 
Wabara (Ref D), it is now very difficult for legislators to 
share kickbacks with ministers and agency heads in the line 
of "duty." 
 
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Public Reaction:  It's No Big Deal 
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5.  (U) Nasarawa State governor Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu (PDP), 
currently in Obasanjo's good graces, described the threat of 
the legislators as "democratic noise."  Presidential aide 
Femi Fani-Kayode, in his characteristic style, described the 
threat as "infantile nonsense which is bound to fail."  Peter 
Odili (PDP), governor of oil rich Rivers State, called a 
meeting of legislators from his state and pleaded with them 
not to be part of the attempt "to disgrace our party." 
 
6.  (C) An editorial cartoon in one daily newspaper depicted 
Obasanjo asking legislators, "if you are hungry, why not 
simply say so," echoing what many see as the Assembly's 
arm-twisting to extort money from the executive branch and 
highlighting the propensity of Obasanjo to answer problems 
with cash incentives. 
 
7.  (SBU) However weighty the President's offenses may be, it 
is doubtful if the ruling PDP members in the National 
Assembly would allow the opposition ANPP to remove a PDP 
president. Rep. Nadabo is from the same state as opposition 
presidential candidate General Muhammadu Buhari, who is 
challenging Obasanjo's 2003 election in court (Ref E): 
allowing Obasanjo's impeachment could be viewed by the PDP as 
a back door victory for the ANPP. 
 
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Watering Down the Threat 
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8.  (U) On May 18 the House set up a committee to look at the 
offenses as levied by Mr. Nadabo.  Representative Alaba 
Ojomo, chairman of the House Committee on Information said, 
"the impeachment threat has been a single effort of an 
individual."  He also created doubts around the exercise when 
he alleged, "as of today, he (Nadabo) was said to have 
collected 240 signatures but we can verify only 199."  Ojomo 
announced that the impeachment process would have to be 
concluded before the House went on vacation May 27.  In the 
final speech on that date, House Speaker Aminu Bello Masari 
dissolved all 72 standing committees of the House, but 
announced that the ad hoc committee on impeachment would 
stand, its work unfinished. 
 
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Presidency: Warding off Impeachment Threats 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
9.  (SBU) In an apparent move to assuage his attackers before 
they went on vacation, President Obasanjo visited the 
National Assembly on the morning of May 27 and pleaded for 
peace and understanding from the legislators.  The next day, 
newspapers reported that President Obasanjo had released a 
check for N61 billion ($465 million) to the National Assembly 
as "welfare packages."  An angry Senator Tawar Wada, Chairman 
of the Senate Committee on Information described the report 
as "vexatious and unfounded," while other Senators quietly 
confirmed the payments. 
 
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Has This President Committed Impeachable Offenses? 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
10.  (U) Political observers and opinion writers argue that 
since President Obasanjo became president in May 1999 he has 
carried on like a military leader, showing little or no 
respect for democratic processes, including the resolutions 
and acts of the National Assembly.  Founding member of the 
ruling PDP and former Vice President, Chief Alex Ekwueme, 
recently told a civic workshop that President Obsanjo obeys 
the laws "more often in the breach."  Chief Sunday Awoniyi, a 
former permanent secretary and former Obasanjo ally, says 
Obasanjo is suffering from "spiritual corruption." 
 
11.  (C) The President has a history of disobeying court 
orders.  Within the last two years, the President has ignored 
the ruling of the Supreme Court of Nigeria ordering the 
release of seized local council funds for Lagos State. 
Obasanjo also refused to obey a high court order to restore 
the police security of Anambra State Governor Chris Ngige. 
Also, the President has been in the eye of a public storm 
recently for using his official position to launch a family 
library project to which government agencies "donated" huge 
sums of money. 
 
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Comment 
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12.  (C) The furor over the National Intelligence Council 
report (Ref E) has diverted attention from the impeachment 
process and from the Presidential library scandal.  While it 
is unclear how the National Assembly will treat the 
impeachment issue on their return from holidays, some members 
continue to compile breaches and agitate for more public 
hearings on the charges.  Whether the million dollars per 
representative offered by Obasanjo will have any affect on 
the process remains to be seen. 
CAMPBELL