US embassy cable - 03ABUJA909

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 000909 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINS, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: POSSIBLE DEAL FOR WARRI POLITICAL IMPASSE 
 
 
REF: ABUJA 816 AND PREVIOUS 
 
 
Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter for reasons 1.5 (b) 
and (d). 
 
 
1.(C) Post's Corporate Responsibility Officer (CRO) met with 
Temi Harriman, the National Assembly Representative (PDP) for 
the Warri area, on May 13 in Abuja.  Although she 
characterized polling in her constituency on both April 12 
and 19 (National Assembly and Presidential/Gubernatorial 
elections, respectively) as almost non-existent, she 
refrained from casting doubt on her renewed electoral 
mandate.  She felt she was a strong candidate for Deputy 
Speaker of the House, a position to be decided at a May 22 
PDP meeting in Port Harcourt. 
 
 
2.(C) Commenting on the ongoing crisis in the Warri area, 
Harriman, an Itsekiri, blamed  the new outbreak of violence 
on Ijaw youth in the Warri Southwest Local Government Area 
(LGA).  She rejected Ijaw claims that this LGA is populated 
predominantly by Ijaws.  Similarly, she dismissed Ijaw 
demands to control the majority of the LGA's 10 electoral 
wards, six of which are currently controlled by Itsekiri. 
Nevertheless, she emphasized that her constituency, the three 
LGAs of Warri, include substantial numbers of Ijaw and 
Uhrobos in addition to her fellow Itsekiri; she claimed to be 
working with moderate Ijaw leaders who in turn have given her 
political support. 
 
 
3.(C) During the meeting at Harriman's Abuja residence, 
Jefferson Arubi, the PDP candidate  for the Chairman of the 
Warri Southwest local government area, arrived with an 
"emergency" issue to discuss with Harriman.  According to the 
visibly agitated Arubi, the Delta PDP had just reassigned him 
to run for the lower office of Deputy Chairman, while 
elevating an Ijaw candidate to the Chairmanship candidacy. 
Arubi claimed this was the handiwork of Delta  Governor James 
Ibori (PDP); Arubi said he had been told that any attempt to 
resist this change would lead to his expulsion from the 
party. 
 
 
4.(C) Harriman's immediate response was negative, because 
Warri Southwest LGA had been historically controlled by 
Itsekiri.  Upon reflection, however, she noted that this was 
likely an attempt by the Presidency to ameliorate the Warri 
crisis by giving the Ijaw a taste of politcal power in Warri. 
 She advised Arubi to accept the Deputy Chairman position and 
inform the Ijaw candidate that the Itsekiri have accepted 
this move in the name of peace.  The Ijaw should not, 
however, consider the arrangement permanent; in four years 
the Chairmanship should revert to Itsekiri control. 
 
 
5.(C) Comment:  The militant Ijaw youth of Warri have vowed 
to block the June 21 LGA elections.  Ijaws fear the Itsekiri 
will dominate the elections.  The effort to give the 
Chairmanship of the LGA to the Ijaw certainly looks like an 
attempt to help defuse the crisis.  While this solution is a 
stop-gap measure and does not address the fundamental Ijaw 
grievances of the Warri Southwest LGA, it offers the Ijaw 
tangible political concessions that might help ease tensions. 
 This gesture by itself, however, is probably inadequate to 
mollify the Ijaw militants.  The challenge will now be for 
traditional Ijaw leaders such as Chief E.K. Clark to "sell" 
this development as a meaningful gain to the rebellious, 
sometimes criminally inclined, Ijaw youth in the marshy areas 
of Warri. 
JETER