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PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #2791/01 2980644
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 250644Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7571
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 5371
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ABUJA 002791 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA HUMAN RIGHTS ROUNDUP FOR THIRD QUARTER OF 
2006 
 
REF: ABUJA 1838 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  To augment the required annual reporting, 
Embassy Abuja will be sending regular round-up cables 
detailing human rights incidents in Nigeria.  This cable 
mimics the format of the Annual Report on Human Rights and a 
section at the end will discuss issues to which we will be 
paying particular attention.  We will continue to send cables 
about individual events as needed.  END SUMMARY. 
 
RESPECT FOR THE INTEGRITY OF THE PERSON, INCLUDING FREEDOM 
FROM: 
 
¶2.  Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life.  There 
continue to be reports from the Abuja police to the 
diplomatic community on the number of armed robbers arrested 
each week and the number of "dead robbers."  Little 
information is typically given about how the suspects in 
question died, and investigation in to their deaths is not 
pursued. 
 
¶3.  Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life.  Unconfirmed 
reports indicate that 12 people died in an August gun battle 
between the Nigerian military and militants in the Niger 
Delta.  Operating as the Joint Task Force, the military had 
been sent in to attempt to stop the kidnappings discussed in 
the next paragraph. 
 
¶4.  Arbitrary Arrest or Detention.  A number of non-state 
actors in the Niger Delta continue to kidnap individuals who 
work for petroleum companies.  While most of the militant 
groups make public claims of concern about unfair resource 
distribution and environmental destruction, the hostages are 
routinely released, reportedly after a financial settlement 
of some kind.  In July a Dutch man was kidnapped and later 
released, and later that month workers who had been kidnapped 
in June were released.  In August, citizens of Germany, the 
Philippines, Norway, Ukraine, Belgium, Morocco, Great 
Britain, and the United States were kidnapped by various 
militant groups and later released. 
 
¶5.  Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.  Destruction of homes and businesses in Abuja 
by the government of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) 
continues.  Typically, the FCT leadership decides that a 
group of buildings is not in accordance with the master plan 
for the city, will serve 21 days notice that the buildings 
are to be demolished, and will then bulldoze the structures. 
There is no meaningful appeal from the decision to bulldoze 
the buildings, and their owners are not compensated. 
Additionally, many of the people whose homes and offices are 
destroyed hold permits issued by the FCT allowing them to 
build and occupy the building.  Many people are left homeless 
and unemployed as a result.  The FCT has recently discussed 
plans to build some new housing units, but there is no plan 
for how they will be allocated, there are fewer housing units 
than homes destroyed, and the housing will not be available 
until some time in the future. 
 
¶6.  Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.  On September 20, 2006, Muslim Youth in 
Dutse, Jigawa State rioted, allegedly in protest of an 
amorous relationship between a police officer and a local 
woman.  An unknown number of homes and businesses were 
destroyed in the riot and reports indicate that the governor 
of the state was threatened with lynching by irate youths and 
had to be escorted from the capital. 
 
¶7.  Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or 
Correspondence.  Credible reports indicate that the Nigerian 
military's Joint Task Force for the Niger Delta burned to the 
ground a village in Obio-Akpor Local Government area of 
Rivers State near Port Harcourt on the evening of August 24. 
Militants from a nearby area had shot a soldier while 
abducting an oil company employee.   In retaliation, soldiers 
came to the village shortly afterwards with cans of gasoline. 
 They set every building on fire and burned them to the 
ground, destroying an area covering roughly four football 
fields.  Fortunately, no one died and only one person was 
seriously injured.  No compensation is expected to be paid to 
the victims and the Nigerian military denies responsibility. 
 
RESPECT FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES, INCLUDING: 
 
¶8.  Freedom of Speech and Press.  We reported in paragraph 7 
of reftel that journalists Gbenga Aruleba and Rotimi 
Durojaiye had been charged with sedition for reporting that 
the president purchased a second-hand airplane.  A hearing on 
 
ABUJA 00002791  002 OF 004 
 
 
July 25 allowed them both to remain free on bail, and a 
hearing on October 10 led to the case being dismissed against 
Aruleba.  Durojaiye and his newspaper company still face the 
sedition charge, although he remains free on bail while the 
Court of Appeal determines the constitutionality of the 
charges.  Immediately after the hearing, Aruleba said first 
that he was unsure why the charges had been dropped against 
him and later said he thought it was because he merely 
repeated a story Durojaiye wrote.  In a later email to 
PolOff, Durojaiye said that he believed the case against 
Aruleba had been dismissed because he and his company (Africa 
Independent Television) were willing to apologize to the 
government for running the story while Durojaiye and his 
company were not. 
 
¶9.  Freedom of Speech and Press.  Local media frequently run 
stories openly critical of the government, and yet sometimes 
media practitioners are arrested or harassed for doing so. 
PolOff gained some insight into who goes free and who goes to 
jail in a conversation with a local journalist in September. 
According to this source, it is acceptable to report the news 
so long as one is not seen to be attacking politically 
powerful figures, particularly the president.  While the 
information can be given, he said it must be slanted and 
given in a respectful tone so as not to offend. 
 
¶10.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.  We 
reported in paragraph 9 of reftel that the national assembly 
was considering an anti-gay marriage bill which would 
duplicate existing laws on marriage and sexual relations 
while making it more difficult for advocacy groups to 
operate.  While there have been murmurs that the bill might 
advance in the legislative process, to date no further action 
has been taken on it.  While we still expect that it will 
pass by a wide margin if it comes to a vote, it is becoming 
increasingly likely that the legislation will die a quiet 
death as the body politic becomes increasingly preoccupied by 
the elections planned for April 2007. 
 
¶11.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association.  On July 
12, State Security Service (SSS) officers sealed off the site 
of a planned human rights meeting and prevented the meeting 
from taking place because no permit had been issued for the 
meeting.  The SSS was acting under writ of the Public Order 
Act, which had previously been declared unconstitutional by 
Nigeria's courts.  The July 12 meeting had been called to 
protest the sacking of Bukhari Bello as chair of the National 
Human Rights Commission.  Bello was relieved of his duties 
for criticizing government human rights practices. 
 
¶12.  Freedom of Religion.  Several political officers made a 
trip to Kaduna and Kano states to participate in Ramadan 
activities.  Both states are at least partially under Sharia 
law.  In a positive note, PolOff saw Christian churches 
freely operating in both places.  This was particularly true 
in Kaduna State.  While religious tension is certainly 
possible in any part of Nigeria, this brief glimpse suggests 
that Sharia is being applied in a manner which is equitable 
to Christians. 
 
¶13.  Freedom of Religion.  While the news for religious 
freedom is good in some parts of Nigeria, tensions remain 
high in other areas.  Credible reports from Jigawa State 
indicate that on September 10 churches were burned during a 
religious conflict.  A Christian student is believed to have 
made offensive comments about the Prophet Mohammed in 
response to offensive comments on the part of a Muslim 
student about Jesus Christ. 
 
RESPECT FOR POLITICAL RIGHTS: THE RIGHT OF CITIZENS TO CHANGE 
THEIR GOVERNMENT 
 
¶14.  Elections and Political Participation.  While the 
government continues to insist that elections will happen on 
schedule, speculation continues that President Obasanjo 
intends to stay.  While the speculation has many sources, 
there are three primary sources of concern.  The first is 
that voter registration is not proceeding according to the 
announced plan.  The Independent National Electoral 
Commission (INEC) announced that all voters would be 
registered by December through "direct data capture," a 
method where their photo and digital fingerprint would be 
taken.  However, INEC does not have the equipment it needs to 
complete the registration exercise in a timely manner.  The 
second problem is the general disorganization of Nigeria's 
political parties.  While the PDP is all but certain to 
remain a viable political party, around 4 dozen other parties 
exist and are going through a constant churn of merging with 
 
ABUJA 00002791  003 OF 004 
 
 
and splitting away from one another.  None of the parties 
have announced candidates, and there is little consensus on 
which candidates will represent which parties.  Third, many 
leading candidates are under investigation for corruption by 
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other 
law enforcement bodies.  Currently under investigation or 
threat of impeachment are the Vice President and as many as 
30 of the 36 state governors.  Other figures such as the son 
of former head of state Ibrahim Babangida are also being 
investigated.  Being under indictment could legally 
disqualify a political candidacy.  It is improbable that 
corruption on such a grand scale would suddenly be discovered 
only a few months before an election.  Some observers 
speculate that the upsurge in corruption investigations is 
motivated by the administration's desire to disqualify some 
likely presidential candidates. 
 
¶15.  Elections and Political Participation.  Disputed reports 
indicate that on September 10 past Minister of Aviation and 
current candidate for the governorship of Bauchi State Isa 
Yuguda was the subject of an assassination attempt. 
Allegedly, he was attacked by thugs sent by current Bauchi 
State Governor Mu'azu, a member of the PDP.  The attack was 
said to have taken place in Abuja when a group of armed men 
stormed Yuguda's home.  He survived the attack. 
 
¶16.  Elections and Political Participation.  In 
mid-September, the Kano governor's motorcade was stoned by 
youth upset with him for allegedly turning away from the ANPP 
to cooperate with President Obasanjo and the ruling PDP.  The 
incident took place after the governor returned from an 
overseas trip with the President.  The incident was not 
widely reported in the media. 
 
¶17.  Elections and Political Participation.  Ayodeji 
Daramola, PDP candidate for the governorship of Ekiti State, 
was murdered August 14 by unknown assassins.  He had been 
publicly threatened by Ekiti Governor Fayose several times 
prior to the killing.  No visible progress has been made in 
the investigation, and speculation is widespread that the 
killing was politically motivated. 
 
¶18.  Elections and Political Participation.  On July 28, 
Lagos State PDP gubernatorial aspirant Funsho Williams was 
bound, gagged and stabbed to death in his residence in Lagos 
in the early hours of the morning.  Although some arrests 
were made and officials of Scotland Yard were invited to 
examine the crime scene, no one has been arraigned in court. 
There is little public confidence that those who have been 
arrested actually carried out the murders and there has been 
no mention of arrests of those who ordered the deed done. 
The Williams case does stand out, however, in having foreign 
agents called in to assist in the investigation. 
 
¶19.  Elections and Political Participation.  Plateau State 
gubernatorial aspirant Jesse Aruku of the newly registered 
Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) was abducted late at 
night on June 30 or July 1 and killed on July 2.  Police say 
his death was an assassination and not a robbery, but no 
arrests are known to have been made in the case. 
 
GOVERNMENT ATTITUDES REGARDING INTERNATIONAL AND 
NONGOVERNMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN 
RIGHTS 
 
¶20.  A number of human rights NGOs operate freely in Nigeria. 
 Paragraph 15 of reftel had reported that one local NGO was 
facing a registration problem, but that problem has been 
resolved.  However, local democracy building NGOs have 
reported feeling some pressure to only provide voter 
education according to "approved" methods. 
 
DISCRIMINATION, SOCIETAL ABUSES, AND TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 
 
¶21.  Women.  The PDP is encouraging women to run for 
political office by greatly reducing the fees charged to 
women for the paperwork required to register as a PDP 
candidate. 
 
¶22.  National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities.  Plateau State was 
the location of extensive intercommunal violence in 2001 and 
again in 2004.  The majority of the residents of the state, 
and those who consider themselves "indigenes" of the area, 
are Christian.  Many of the commercial traders are Muslims 
who have lived in the area for three generations or more but 
are not considered indigenous.  In conversations with PolOff, 
the Muslim community feels that they are still being actively 
discriminated against in outlays of public funds and the 
 
ABUJA 00002791  004 OF 004 
 
 
ability to seek public office. 
 
WORKER RIGHTS 
 
¶23.  There have been reports of a possible strike as the 
Power Holding Company of Nigeria privatizes, and oil workers 
were this summer discussing the possibility of a strike. 
However, no industrial actions are known to have materialized 
since the NITEL strike in June. 
 
TRENDS TO WATCH 
 
¶24.  The attention of the embassy is increasingly focusing on 
next year's planned elections as both a political and a human 
rights issue.  Through the end of the year, we will be 
closely watching the progress of voter registration and the 
organization of Nigeria's political parties.  If voters are 
registered and political parties well organized to conduct a 
spirited campaign, it will be a positive sign for the conduct 
of next year's elections.  If either or both of these falls 
through, Nigeria could be set for a period of significant 
turmoil in the spring of 2007.  We will continue to send 
reports on specific issues as they develop. 
FUREY