US embassy cable - 03LAGOS504

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000504 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
CAIRO FOR POL -- MAXSTADT 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, ASEC, KDEM, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: WHO WAS MARSHALL HARRY? 
 
 
REF: A. ABUJA 00448 
     B. ABUJA 00449 
 
 
Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL ROBYN HINSON-JONES.  REASON:  1.5 (B & D) 
 
 
. 
 
 
 1.  (U) SUMMARY.  Marshall Harry's death on March 5 is the 
latest in a series of murders regarded by southern Nigerians 
as political assassinations.  Harry engendered bitter 
rivalries as a notorious power-player and strategist who 
aimed to shift power to South-south minorities, including 
Rivers State Governor Peter Odili.  (See also septel, 
"HARRY'S MURDER FLAMES PORT HARCOURT TENSIONS.")  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
----------------------- 
A THORN IN ODILI'S SIDE 
----------------------- 
 
 
2.  (C) Harry was among the most prominent elite of the 
Kalabari southern ethnic minority.  His outspoken criticism 
and political posturing for South-south ethnic groups put off 
or threatened erstwhile allies in politics and business 
alike.  Harry had ample, well-documented, public animosities. 
 In December 2001, after alleging that Odili was threatening 
to kill him, police arrested Harry.  His younger brother (or 
cousin) Ipalibo Harry, now the running mate to ANPP Rivers 
State gubernatorial candidate Sergeant Awuse, posted 100,000 
naira for his bail a few days after the Civil Liberties 
Organization protested the detention as a violation of 
Harry's freedom of speech.  In February 2002, Harry told the 
press, "If Odili returns as the governor of Rivers State in 
2003, I will pack my bags and go into exile.  But I know he 
will not win because he doesn't have what it takes to win the 
election in Rivers State politics." 
 
 
3.  (C) In contrast to the SSS perspective of the Harry-Odili 
relationship mentioned in ref A, Odili displayed at least 
once to poloffs his personal ire at the mere mention of 
Harry's name.  In a 2002 meeting with Odili, Lagos Consul 
General asked for his views on Marshall Harry and why Harry 
had been imprisoned on his orders.  The Governor responded 
angrily, demanding to know why the ConGen was wasting time 
asking about "worthless criminals" such as Harry.  The 
suggestion that Harry's detention had been noticed as a 
possible human rights issue was enough to send Odili into a 
tirade.  He said it was "proper" for police to detain Harry 
since he had accused the Chief Executive of Rivers State of 
plotting to kill hi.  This was a "serious accusation that 
should not be brushed aside.  You cannot accuse the chief 
executive of a state without proof.  It is a very serious 
matter, and the police did the right thing interrogating him." 
 
 
4.  (U) Harry's last days mixed public denunciations of Odili 
with praises of ANPP presidential candidate General Mohammed 
Buhari. In a press conference covered by the March 4 ThisDay 
newspaper, Harry accused Odili of interfering with ANPP's 
launch of Buhari's campaign and said he would take his 
complaint directly to the Inspector General in Abuja.  He 
felt victimized over the fee plus deposit of 7.5 million 
naira asked of ANPP to secure the Port Harcourt Liberation 
Stadium for Buhari's campaign launch on March 8; a few weeks 
before, he claimed, the PDP had paid just 800,000 naira for 
the same political venue.  In a formal complaint addressed on 
March 3 to the Rivers State police commissioner, Harry 
stated: "Since we started the preparation for the 
presidential flag-off campaign, we have noticed a high spate 
of arrest, intimidation, harassment, and maiming of our party 
officials, candidates, and supporters by Odili's thugs with 
the assistance of the Police" (ThisDay, "Harry Petitions 
Police, Says Odili to Disrupt ANPP Rally, March 6, 2003).  In 
the event that the police should "fail" to "protect lives and 
property" of the ANPP, Harry said, "we do not lack the will 
and capacity to protect our supporters."  He went on to 
accuse the Rivers government of "buying police and army 
uniforms as well as guns and ammunitions to equip their 
standing army of murderers for the purpose of rigging the 
forth-coming elections." 
 
 
5.  (U) In his last interview with The Guardian newspaper, 
printed on March 6, Harry said, "Governor Odili is my friend. 
 I helped him to be there.  He is not my enemy.  He is the 
one telling people that I am his enemy, but my challenges and 
criticism are based on his bad governance.  He is not 
transparent and he is not honest with the people of the 
state.  I criticize him based on principle." 
 
 
----------------------- 
A PIN ON BUHARI'S LAPEL 
----------------------- 
 
 
6.  (U) Harry, determined to bolster a Northern alliance with 
South-South minorities, promoted Muhammadu Buhari as a rival 
candidate to Obasanjo until his death.  Harry told the 
Guardian: "It is the president's game to set the minorities 
against the North.... We are political allies with the North. 
 Watch out, each time a northern president is on board, the 
oil ministry is given to the southern minorities.  This time 
Obasanjo gave us the minister of culture so that we should be 
dancing around, and he still wants us to dance for another 
four years.  I have told you that Buhari is down to earth, he 
sees the problem of this country.  He knows the grave 
injustice suffered by the minorities, he knows we feel 
subjugated.  Buhari would not have done what Obasanjo did in 
Odi.  The mere fact that people were agitating for a fair 
deal out of oil derived from their area, which culminated in 
the killing of some policemen, is it enough to sack a whole 
village?  Buhari is a man who is coming to address the issues 
affecting the minorities.  I am a minority.... and I believe 
in his honest disposition." 
7.  (U) "Primaries are a military creation to heat up the 
system," he said.  "It is not a democratic attitude for an 
undeveloped nation like ours.  If you are talking about 
primaries in Britain and America, it is okay.  But in 
Nigeria, the driving force to play politics is economic 
power.  Nigerian politicians are driven by economic concern, 
and are in politics to amass wealth.  In the developed 
nations, it is to serve." 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
HARRY:  THE LONELINESS OF HIS MINORITY POLITICS 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
 
8.  (C) Harry's political allies-turned-nemeses included most 
of Nigeria's top power figures.  In 1999 he allegedly 
prevented Sergeant Awuse (now his brother's running mate) 
from obtaining the PDP's Rivers State gubernatorial ticket. 
In December 2001, he told reporters that Odumegwu Ojukwu's 
call for Igbo secession was "the cry of a madman."  While 
chairing Rivers State's PDP chapter, he fought PDP's national 
chairman Barnabas Gemade's attempt to extend his term in 
power.  He founded the "Campaign for the Realization of a 
South-South President 2003" (CRESSOP), despite its 
implication that incumbent PDP President Obasanjo should not 
be reelected to office. When CRESSOP failed to mobilize a 
following, it was renamed the Rivers Democratic Movement 
(RDM) and is now campaigning against Odili.  Harry and six 
others (including Don Etiebet, now the ANPP national 
chairman) left or were expelled from the PDP after a 
protracted battle over the party's direction in 2002.  In 
April 2002, he said, "Our position is very clear.  We believe 
in the North.  The next president should come from the 
South-south, come 2003.  We won't vote for Obasanjo."  In 
July 2002, he accused former vice president Admiral Augustus 
Aikhomu and Etiebet himself, arguably his main rival for a 
position of power in the party, of hijacking the ANPP in the 
South-South for their "hidden agenda."  In August 2002, he 
called the impeachment proceedings against Obasanjo "long 
overdue."  His pushing Buhari for the ANPP presidential 
candidate "did not seem to go down well with aspirants like 
Bekinbo Soberekon and Sam Agwor." Despite all his battles, he 
said he had "never been in a party that failed before." 
 
 
9.  (C) So who killed Harry?  Since at least 2001, he had 
been proclaiming publicly his Hobbesian fear of 
assassination.  Theories vary from the elaborate to the 
banal, including: 
 
 
--"Fifth columnists attempting to create tension between PDP 
and ANPP, hoping to destabilize the elections and pave the 
way for the military to step in." 
--Machiavellian frame up of Odili by an ANPP player, as Odili 
would be the "obvious" suspect due to their prominent feuds. 
 
 
--Disgruntled ANPP presidential aspirants blocked by Buhari, 
whom Harry adamantly supported. 
--Unauthorized assassination, such as by the Vikings cult 
group in Rivers, which is popularly believed to have strong 
ties to the Rivers State government.  The murder's Abuja 
venue may have been a deliberate attempt to deflect attention 
from politics in Rivers. 
--None of his political enemies, but one from his prominent 
business life instead. 
--It was merely an armed robbery gone bad. 
 
 
10.  (C) Rivers State Attorney General Aleruchi Cookey-Gam 
confirmed that police investigations "are quietly underway" 
both in Rivers and in Abuja.  Because the murder took place 
in Abuja, she expects any trial will likely take place there. 
 Toward the investigation's conclusion, she expects her 
office will be asked for assistance regarding any arrested 
suspects.  In the meantime, she anticipates that federal 
authorities will lead the way. 
HINSON-JONES