US embassy cable - 03ABUJA1347

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001347 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, KDEM, ASEC, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: DEMONSTRATION AT EMBASSY; ATTACK ON 
OPPOSITION 
 
Classified by Ambassador Howard F. Jeter.  Reasons: 
1.5 (B & D) 
 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  About 50 men and women assembled at 
the Embassy on July 3 to peacefully protest the April 
elections and the visit of the President Bush to see 
President Obasanjo.  After departing peacefully, at 
least 30 of the demonstrators were detained for about 
ten days, we learned.  While the demonstrators' 
organization is unknown to Embassy, regime officials 
believe that it was sponsored by the ANPP and its 
presidential candidate.  More people were detained 
when police officials rounded up staff at the 
Buhari/Okadigbo campaign headquarters on July 7.  At 
least two of the demonstrators contend they were 
physically abused while in detention.  A judge ordered 
the detainees freed on July 15 and they were released 
on July 16.  Also on July 16, a gang of ten armed men 
attacked the ANPP headquarters in Abuja, ransacked its 
offices, removed files and set fire to the building. 
While the demonstrators' organization is unknown to 
Embassy, regime officials believe that it was 
sponsored by the ANPP and its presidential candidate. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
 
2.  (U)  About 50 men and women came to Embassy Abuja 
the morning of July 3 to protest irregularities in the 
recent elections and the upcoming visit of President 
Bush.  Other participants were reportedly turned away 
by police already on alert due to the general strike 
against the fuel price increase.  The representatives 
of the "Concerned Youth Alliance of Nigeria," a 
heretofore unknown group, presented a statement to 
Embassy staff.  The communique said that the Obasanjo 
government "lacks legitimacy" and listed the various 
deficiencies in the elections and the subsequent 
electoral tribunal process.  The statement says that a 
"visit by the U.S. President . . . will amount to a 
show of solidarity and support for an illegitimate 
government," and requests that, if the visit must take 
place, an audience be granted to the Nigerian youth, 
"the most cheated aggrieved, marginalized and 
disenfranchised."  Apparently, roughly 30 of the 
demonstrators were arrested after they had departed 
the area around the Embassy. 
 
 
3.  (C)  At least two of the detainees claim to have 
been beaten while in custody.  They claim that they 
were physically coerced to name accomplices and that 
the police attempted to secure confessions from them 
implicating the ANPP and its presidential candidate, 
Muhammadu Buhari.  According to a source who has 
interviewed one of the detainees, the Inspector 
General of Police Tafa Balogun personally told 
officers to "squeeze them hard." 
 
 
4.  (C)  On July 7, police in Abuja entered the 
campaign headquarters of the Buhari/Okadigbo 
organization and arrested the office staff.  Two 
campaign officials and several party supporters were 
detained on suspicion of organizing the July 3 
protest.  According to the Campaign spokesman, the 
police attempted to "force confessions" from the 
detainees and claimed that at least three officials 
were hospitalized after being interrogated and 
allegedly beaten.  According to a police contact, at 
least four officials from the headquarters are still 
in detention. 
 
 
5.  (U)  On July 15, an Abuja Magistrate Court ordered 
the police to release 31 people detained after the 
July 3 demonstration for "unlawful assembly, criminal 
conspiracy and inciting disturbance."  Justice Bala 
Haruna asked the police to describe what constituted 
"unlawful assembly."  Rather than respond, the police 
dropped the charges.  The Justice ruled that the 
demonstrators "acted within the provisions of the 
Nigerian Constitution" and ordered the release of the 
detainees.  It appears that the 31 detainees were 
released the following day. 
 
 
----------------------------- 
THUGS ENTER ANPP HEADQUARTERS 
----------------------------- 
 
 
6.  (C)  On July 16, ten armed men forcibly entered 
ANPP party headquarters, stabbing one employee in the 
process.  According to one witness, the men went to 
the offices of the party chairman and secretary, 
removed files, doused the rooms with "a flammable 
liquid," and set it ablaze before fleeing.  The FCT 
fire service and the police did not respond. 
Volunteers from the Nigeria National Petroleum 
Council's private fire brigade came to contain the 
blaze after the attackers fled.  Several offices were 
gutted.  According to one party insider, documents for 
the ANPP's July 17 presidential tribunal session were 
among the files pilfered. 
 
 
7.  (C)  COMMENT:  The organization purportedly behind 
the demonstration at the Chancery is previously 
unknown to us, but it is common in Nigeria to gather a 
group of "protesters" from the large pool of 
unemployed youth in the country.  In arresting the 
protesters, the security forces overreacted.  The 
protesters were peaceful; this time, it was the police 
who misbehaved.  With the fuel strike in full swing 
and with the security anxiety surrounding the POTUS 
visit, the police were probably instructed to staunch 
any signs of protests.  It was likely felt that this 
small protest was a harbinger of other protests 
intended, at the very least, to embarrass the GON 
politically. 
 
 
8.  (C)  COMMENT CONT.:  Security forces predictably 
concluded that the ANPP was behind the protest. 
However, detention of Buhari campaign workers was 
equally indefensible and troubling.  For now, we 
cannot identify the architects of the arson at the 
ANPP headquarters or the motivation for this crime. 
The culprits could be internal or external to the 
party.  However, these incidents, viewed collectively, 
demonstrate that political tension, far from 
dissipating, is still significant and can be rekindled 
quickly.  The heavy-handed actions of the GON security 
arms indicate an attempt to nip political protests in 
the bud before they gather momentum.  Should this 
become standard police practice, not only are we 
likely to see more detentions and arrests of 
opposition figures in the future, but Nigeria is 
likely to experience an increase in its political 
temperature. 
 
 
LIBERI