US embassy cable - 05ABUJA2119

UNCLAS ABUJA 002119 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, NI, MILITANTS 
SUBJECT: LEADERS OF YORUBA MILITIA GROUP ARRESTED 
 
1.  Summary:  The leaders of two warring factions of the 
outlawed militant group Odua People's Congress (OPC), 
Fredrick Fasehun and Gani Adams, were charged by a Lagos 
Magistrate Court last week.  OPC is the Yoruba militia 
responsible for violent communal clashes in Lagos and other 
parts of the Southwest.  The prosecution charged Fasehun and 
Adams with six counts, including murder, arson, looting, 
unlawful assembly and illegal possession of arms.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  Adams and Fasehun were arrested October 21 in Lagos and 
briefly detained in Abuja.  On 27 October, police in Lagos 
arraigned Fasehun, Adams and 11 others before an Igbosere 
Magistrate Court, a precinct within Lagos metropolis. They 
were brought to the court amid tight security.  Chief 
Magistrate Akintunde Isaac upheld the prosecution,s 
application that the OPC leaders be remanded to prison to 
allow full investigations by the police into their violent 
activities during the recent communal conflicts in Lagos. 
 
3.  The OPC leaders are charged under Section 236 (3) of 
Criminal Procedure Law Cap C18, Volume 2 Laws of Lagos State. 
 They are charged with committing the following offences: 
 
---&On 21 October, in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos, the accused 
persons conspired to commit arson, murder, malicious damage 
to properties-offences punishable under Section 516 of the 
Criminal Code; 
 
---They killed Sunday Ojo, Kehinde Obayemi, Alaba Alimi, 
Iduyatu Kareem and others yet to be identified; 
 
---The accused persons set ablaze houses, vehicles and other 
valuable properties; 
 
---They unlawfully assembled themselves and participated in a 
riot; 
 
---They caused fear and harm to members of the public by 
openly carrying out firearms without license and; 
 
---They managed the two factions of an unlawful body called 
the OPC, an offence punishable under Section 63 of the Lagos 
Criminal Code.8 
 
The above charges if successfully proved carry many years of 
imprisonment without an option of fines. 
 
4.  The police clamped down on the OPC following bloody 
clashes between the two rival factions that paralyzed 
commercial and social activities in parts of Lagos two weeks 
ago.  At least 8 people were reportedly killed while 50 
vehicles and other valuable properties were destroyed as 
members of the militia battle each other for supremacy.  Last 
week police also arrested at least 40 other members of the 
two OPC factions in Ajegunle and Ajamgbadi, two sprawling 
Lagos suburbs where these factions often flex their muscles. 
 
5.  COMMENT:  Since 1999, the OPC has continued to unleash 
terror on hapless residents in Lagos and other parts of the 
Southwest in total disregard for Nigerian laws.  These recent 
arrests may signal a strengthened resolve by the Nigerian 
authorities to decisively deal with troublemakers in the 
country.  In the past, feeble attempts were made to clip the 
wings of the OPC leaders, but they turned out to be more 
empty rhetoric than any serious action.  The OPC arrests also 
seem to be part of a wider trend of arrests of grassroots 
ethnic leaders from around Nigeria.  Others recently arrested 
include Dokubo Asari, leader of a militant group from the 
Niger Delta, Ralph Uwazurike, one of the leaders of the 
Biafran separatist group MASSOB, and several dozen members of 
the Arewa Youth Congress in the north.  Whether these arrests 
will eventually lead to any convictions remains to be seen. 
Post will continue to monitor this trend and report any 
significant developments. 
 
CAMPBELL