This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 000884 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12598: 4/25/11 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS NI
SUBJECT: Crime and Punishment in the Nigerian Senate 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR HOWARD F. JETER, REASON 1.5 (B/D) 
 
 
¶1. (C) Summary.  The Nigerian Senate leadership faces a 
bitter rearguard struggle from deposed leaders, led by 
former Senate President Chuba Okadigbo and former Deputy 
Senate President Haruna Abubakar, both anxious to revive 
their own fortunes and to punish their successors. 
Allegations of corruption against Senate President Anyim 
and his supporters swirl in the press and behind the 
scenes, with most senators weary of the bad press and the 
distractions of continual infighting.  Anyim plausibly 
claims to be acting in the best interests of a reformed 
Senate and to be "decentralizing" Senate finances, while 
petty chiseling, at the very least, appears to continue 
unabated.  While Anyim appears for the moment to be in 
control, the personality-driven scrapping over allegations 
of both present and previous fraudulent practices risks 
politicizing the Obasanjo administration's disjointed anti- 
corruption efforts, as well as continuing to unsettle the 
Senate.  End summary. 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim has faced 
continual, although relatively minor challenges to his 
leadership, particularly since the turn of the year.  His 
predecessor Chuba Okadigbo and other Senate leaders, 
toppled last summer in a corruption scandal, have never 
reconciled themselves to their loss of position and perks. 
Recently, they orchestrated a press campaign aimed at 
exposing alleged corrupt practices by Anyim and his 
colleagues.  Okadigbo and his small band of loyalists 
wished to force these allegations to a public hearing, but 
Anyim supporters instead tabled a long-pending (and 
purposefully delayed) report on last summer's scandal. 
 
 
¶3. (C) This "Kuta" report (named for the senator who headed 
last summer's investigatory committee), had been examined 
and "harmonized" by a second committee.  Both reports were 
highly critical of Okadigbo and other former leaders for 
their irregular contracting practices and general 
mishandling and diversion of public funds while running the 
senate.  Anyim had told Emboffs more than once that the 
Kuta report had been kept in "reserve," to be used only if 
Okadigbo and the other deposed leaders proved irremediably 
"restless." 
 
 
¶4. (SBU) On April 10, Anyim supporters quickly adopted the 
"harmonized" report, including its recommendation that the 
Kuta conclusions be forwarded to "appropriate Federal 
Agencies" for "further action," and that the named senators 
(Chuba Okadigbo, Haruna Abubakar, Evan Enwerem, Abubakar 
Girei, Rowland Owie, Florence Ita Giwa, Gbenga Aluko) be 
barred from Senate Committee Chairmanships.  In an 
accompanying "confidence" ballot, the Senate voted 86-1 in 
support of Anyim's continuing tenure as Senate President. 
Twenty-two senators did not vote or were absent.  Okadigbo, 
deserted by his supporters, cast the sole vote against 
Anyim. 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) On April 20, police arrested an SSS security 
officer, attached to Haruna Abubakar's office, in the act 
of offering a bribe to National Assembly accounts staff for 
internal financial documents.  On April 25, in the wake of 
a continuing behind-the-scenes campaign by Okadigbo and 
others to trumpet the accusations, the Senate adopted a 
motion calling upon Okadigbo to apologize or face 
suspension from the Senate.  Senators Haruna Abubakar, 
Abubakar Girei and Roland Owie abjectly apologized to their 
colleagues, and disavowed any involvement in the 
allegations. 
 
 
¶6.  (C) The allegations of corrupt practices against Anyim 
center on the recent purchase of automobiles for Committee 
Chairmen and Vice Chairmen, as well as travel voucher abuse 
and over-invoicing of supplies.   There are 63 committees, 
so 126 vehicles were purchased for the 109 senators. 
Essentially, everyone got at least one car.  Accusers claim 
that an (unsolicited) 300,000 naira (about $2500) cash 
rebate accompanied each delivered automobile   Senate 
leadership stoutly deny the accusations in public, but in 
private they tell a slightly different tale regarding the 
automobiles.  In separate discussions with Poloff over the 
last several days Senate President Anyim, the chief of 
staff to Deputy Senate President Mantu, and Bala Adamu, the 
new Chair of the Senate Services Committee (charged with 
the provision of cars, houses, office space and other 
accoutrements to all senators), made clear that each car 
did come with a "discount," supposedly to be discussed and 
"negotiated" between individual senators and the dealers 
delivering the cars. 
 
 
¶7. (C) Anyim termed the "discount" as something in which "I 
am not involved," but an option for each senator "if he 
chose to pursue it."  He restated his public and private 
position (largely accurate) that he has successfully 
"decentralized" Senate finances, and freed his colleagues 
to spend allotted funds as they wished (a major and welcome 
reform from the inveterate cronyism of Okadigbo).  Adamu 
framed the "discount" in terms of "extras" to be purchased 
for upholstery and other upgrades of the cars, according to 
the tastes of the individual senators.  The Chief of Staff 
frankly stated that "everyone collected the 'discount' with 
the car," and noted that these sorts of transactions were 
the sort of everyday "dirty linen" that no one in the 
senate really wished to see reach the attention of the 
public. 
 
 
¶8. (C) In recent conversation with senators from all three 
political parties in the Senate, the level of dismay and 
fatigue regarding continuing leadership struggles is 
readily evident.  While some note that any substantive 
evidence of corrupt practices by the new leadership could 
not be ignored, few seem anxious to pursue the sort of 
tempestuous and very public investigations conducted last 
summer.  Senators generally regard the accusations as the 
selfish acts of deposed leaders unwilling to accept their 
fall from power, and bent on exacting revenge on those who 
now rule the Senate. 
 
 
¶9. (C) Former Senate Deputy President Haruna Abubakar 
delivered copies of several apparently genuine payment 
vouchers to the Deputy Chief of Mission on April 16.  These 
papers appear to document a number of corrupt or otherwise 
less-than-transparent practices.  These vouchers were 
distributed to a number of media houses as well; Senate 
leadership subsequently denounced these papers as fakes. 
Examination reveals what appears to be over-invoicing of 
office supplies and receipt of advances for travel 
supposedly never undertaken, without subsequent refund of 
the advance, among other dubious practices.  Payments to 
some officials add up to relatively large sums ($50,000 or 
more in some cases).  Abubakar also alleged to us that the 
official purchase price of the hundred-odd cars, discussed 
in open Senate session, was in fact doubled, with Anyim and 
other leaders skimming off nearly four million dollars for 
themselves, leaving a modest $2500 "discount" for the other 
senators.  The arrest of Abubakar's security operative 
offering money for documents, and his subsequent apology in 
open Senate session suggest he may in fact have lacked 
clear proof of this core allegation, but do not prove him 
wrong. 
 
 
¶10. (C) Anyim told Poloff April 20 that the approved Kuta 
report had been sent to President Obasanjo for examination, 
but that he had advised the President to "keep it without 
action" for the time being.  Presidential Liaison Officer 
for the Senate Kashim Ibrahim told poloff April 23 that the 
report had not yet been officially communicated to the 
Presidency, although an "unofficial copy" might have "come 
over."  Kashim also signaled some distancing of the 
Presidency from Anyim (previously regarded as a very 
welcome change from Okadigbo), saying the situation in the 
Senate was "fluid" and that Anyim was not doing a good job 
of "reaching out" to other senators.  "He does not consult 
well," said Ibrahim. "We are taking a waiting attitude." 
He also noted considerable irritation among Presidential 
advisors with Anyim, who recently proclaimed his public 
opposition to the President's planned deregulation of 
subsidized fuel.  "Many of us are very upset," said 
Ibrahim.  Further, Ibrahim indicated that, given that the 
Senate Presidency had been zoned to the Igbo South-East, 
advisors to President Obasanjo had begun to consider who 
among Igbo senators might best take Anyim's place if he 
should fall. 
 
 
¶11.  (C) Comment.  Stories of travel voucher abuse, over- 
invoicing of supplies, and built-in "discounts" for 
National Assembly members, House and Senate alike, in the 
purchase of furnishings, cars, etc, are the common currency 
of the legislative branch.  Petty chiseling appears 
endemic, and most elected members and staff turn a blind 
eye.  Senate President Anyim will face continuing 
challenges to his authority so long as personality-based 
politics predominates, and those out of power scheme 
continually to topple those who are in positions of 
authority.  For example, the first two Senate Presidents, 
Okadigbo and Enwerem, each of whom worked ceaselessly to 
effect the demise of the other, have temporarily united to 
unseat the third occupant of the office, Anyim.  Ammunition 
for accusations is always close at hand, so long as petty 
(and perhaps not so petty) thievery continues.  Seasoned 
observers comment that many Executive branch officers 
misappropriate far larger sums, hinting that it is 
difficult to blame legislators for wanting a piece of the 
action.  However, executive branch malfeasance seems to 
take place amid fewer fireworks, and less public notice. 
 
 
¶12. (C) Comment continued.  The previous practice in the 
Senate had been to keep allegations of corrupt practices 
"in-house," and punish errant members through temporary 
suspension, dismissal from committees, and loss of high 
Senate office. Both those caught with their hands in the 
till, and those who embarrassed the Senate by making the 
allegations in the first place, faced similar punishments. 
With the transmittal of the Kuta Report to the Executive 
Branch, and the potential referral of the allegations to 
such bodies as the new Anti-Corruption Commission, 
President Obasanjo's nascent anti-corruption campaign could 
easily be embroiled in the Senate's political war of all- 
against-all.  The prospect of continued strife and 
distraction in the Senate appears virtually certain. 
Jeter