US embassy cable - 05LAGOS1451

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAGOS 001451 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W 
STATE FOR INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, NI 
SUBJECT: NEW VIOLENCE FROM OLD DISPUTE IN OGONILAND 
 
Classified By: Consul General Brian L. Browne for Reason 1.4 (D) 
 
 1. (SBU)  Communal violence erupted in the Ogoniland region 
of Rivers State and claimed additional lives.  Daily 
newspapers estimated the toll at 22 dead.  Ledum Mitee, 
President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni 
People (MOSOP), said in a September 8 meeting with Consular 
staff the actual number was five killed.  Mitee also issued a 
statement calling for the violence to end. 
 
2.  (SBU)  The violence was attributed to a dispute dating 
back to 2003.  Two communities, Gbor-Kaani and Bua-Teyor 
Kaani, both in Khana Ward 6 of Rivers State, are in conflict 
over the ward's position in the local government council. 
There had been agreement for rotational occupancy of the 
position by one community and then the other.  However, when 
time came for the prize to rotate to Bua-Teyor Kaani, the 
Gbor-Kaani incumbent refused to honor the arrangement.  The 
incumbent has since passed away, leaving the position vacant. 
 The dispute quickly escalated into violence. 
 
3.  (C) Comment:  This procession from political agreement to 
communal violence reveals many of the idiosyncrasies of the 
Nigerian political culture.  Although the deal rotating the 
occupancy of an elected position was extra-constitutional, it 
was also a pragmatic attempt to douse the embers between 
feuding communities.  Sadly this attempt fell victim to 
another Nigerian political trait - the abrogation of an 
informal agreement by an incumbent more than reluctant to 
surrender the staff and rank of his office no matter how 
modest that office might be.  This behavior, comprising some 
of the more troublesome tiles in the Nigerian political 
mosaic, unfortunately has and will continue to lead to an 
unhealthy number of political squabbles and sometimes brings 
with it unnecessary political violence as in the case of 
Ogoniland.  End comment. 
BROWNE