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DE RUEHUJA #0923/01 1311343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111343Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9479
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 0326
RUEHCD/AMCONSUL CIUDAD JUAREZ 0322
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 6827
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABUJA 000923 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOE FOR CAROLYN GAY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM ELAB NI ELECTIONS
SUBJECT: ARRESTS, INTIMIDATION SUCCESSFULLY QUASH PROTESTS 
 
REF: ABUJA 852 
 
ABUJA 00000923  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  Despite harsh rhetoric by Nigerian opposition candidates, 
labor leaders, and civil society, promises of mass action to 
protest the Nigerian elections have largely gone unfilled. 
Labor rallies were held on May 1 (reftel), but were tightly 
controlled and largely peaceful.  Civil society issued a 
14-day "ultimatum" demanding cancellation of the April polls, 
but leaders have yet to specify what will occur when their 
ultimatum runs out on May 15.  Though the lack of popular 
protests is due in part to public exhaustion, poverty, and 
apathy, it also results from government attempts to quash 
protest through threats, intimidation, and in some cases 
detentions. 
 
¶2.  A few days before the presidential and governorship 
elections, opposition candidates and their influential 
supporters were detained with the aim of breaking the ranks 
of the opposition groups.  In most of the states where 
violence arose from rejection of the poll results, security 
agents exploited the opportunity to attack and detain 
chieftains and key members of the opposition groups.  In some 
cases, rather than detaining leaders, security agents 
harassed them at their offices, homes or in public places 
with threats of arrest and possible use of force if protests 
were successfully organized. 
 
¶3.  There were reports of arrests and intimidation across all 
six geopolitical zones, but in Ondo, Osun, Edo, Abia, 
Katsina, Benue, Ebonyi, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Sokoto, Kaduna, 
Kogi, Adamawa, Taraba, and Nasarawa hundreds of Nigerians 
belonging to opposition groups were detained by the police. 
While some have been released, others are still in custody. 
In Abia State for instance, the People's Progressive Alliance 
(PPA) candidate and current Governor-elect Theodore Orji was 
arrested before the election and remains in police custody. 
On May 1, at least six hundred Nigerians were detained by the 
police for trying to protest the recent polls and eighty were 
arrested.  A contact who was detained but later released by 
the State Security Service (SSS) opined that the security 
agents were desperate and jittery about any attempt to hold a 
protest rallies. 
 
------------------------------------ 
EXAMPLES OF INTIMIDATION, DETENTIONS 
------------------------------------ 
¶4.  On April 15 the ANPP governorship candidate in Kaduna 
State and other key officials of the party were arrested and 
detained by the security agents.  Some of them were released 
after the April 21 presidential elections. 
 
¶5.  Security agents forcefully gained entrance to the 
transmission studio of AIT, a privately-owned television 
station, on April 16, forcing staff to stop the transmission 
of a documentary program that was critical to President 
Obasanjo and the ruling PDP.  In place of the documentary, a 
tape conveying campaign activities of PDP presidential 
candidate Yar'adua and highlights of President Obasanjo's 
achievements were played.  Campaign activities of other 
leading opposition candidates like Muhammadu Buhari were not 
broadcast, although some paid ads for minor candidates were 
mixed in with the pro-Obasanjo programming. 
 
¶6.  The Action Congress (AC) gubernatorial candidate in Edo 
state and former president of the Nigeria Labor Congress 
(NLC), Adams Oshiomhole, was arrested on April 16, shortly 
after violent protests broke out in the state over the 
conduct of the gubernatorial elections.  Protestors insisted 
that Oshimole had won the election, in spite of a INEC 
declaration of the election as a PDP victory.  Oshimole was 
arrested, reportedly for saying that the people had rights to 
reclaim and protect their mandate, and he was subsequently 
released. 
 
¶7.  On April 17, Chief Solomon Ewuga, ANPP governorship 
candidate in Nasarawa State was invited to Abuja and detained 
on the orders of the Inspector General of Police Sunday 
Ehindero following communal violence arising from the 
gubernatorial elections.  He was released after the April 21 
polls.  On the same day, key supporters of the Democratic 
Peoples Party (DPP) in Sokoto State were detained by the 
 
ABUJA 00000923  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
police, some of whom were not released until after the 
presidential elections.  Earlier on, the state party chairman 
and other major supporters were harassed by security agents 
who falsely claimed the officials were wanted by the EFCC. 
Several opposition party supporters were also arrested in 
Kogi State for allegedly igniting violent protests against 
the governorship elections.  On April 18, the ANPP 
governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, 
was beaten and arrested.  His arrest came after his 
supporters protested the results of the governorship 
elections, and the protest allegedly paralyzed activities in 
the state. Onu was released after the presidential elections. 
 
 
¶8.  Security agents in Ilorin, capital of Kwara State, 
detained leaders of state branch of Action Congress (AC) on 
April 22 for allegedly recruiting party thugs to set ablaze 
the residence of state electoral commissioner.  The AC 
chieftains included Prince Sunday Fagbemi, state party 
chairman, and Barrister Bolaji Edun, state party secretary. 
Sources said both politicians are still in custody.  A source 
also confirmed the arrest of other members of several 
opposition groups in the state. 
 
¶9.  The Federal Government banned protests and political 
rallies throughout Nigeria.  On April 29, the Inspector 
General of Police (IGP) Sunday Ehindero told the media in 
Abuja that he had instructed all his state commissioners "not 
to grant permits for political rally or procession - any 
rally held without police permit will be dispersed 
forcefully.  We shall use the tear gas to disperse them 
(demonstrators) and if it warrants using more than minimum 
force to disperse them, we shall use it."  (NOTE:  There is 
no legal requirement for police permit for public 
demonstrations.) 
 
¶10.  On April 30, Emmanuel Ezeazu, the Secretary General of 
the  Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE) was detained and 
questioned in Abuja by the SSS operatives in connection with 
a planned demonstration against the elections on the Labor 
Day (May 1).  He was asked to sign an agreement not organize 
or participate in any protest, but he declined to do so.  He 
was released on May 1. 
 
¶11.  Opposition politicians and labor activists were 
assaulted and/or detained throughout Nigeria before and 
during the nation-wide Labor Day celebrations May 1.  Some 
labor leaders and opposition groups had vowed to use the 
Labor Day to protest against the elections.  Press reports 
indicate that Abuja police detained at least 235 
demonstrators, while at least 50 were detained in Daura 
(Katsina) for holding anti-election placards and chanting 
slogans.  Police reportedly used force to disperse protests 
in Lagos, Katsina and Benue states, saying that the 
demonstrations were illegal as they had not received official 
police permission.  Thousands of demonstrators wearing black 
t-shirts and carrying placards tried to join a May Day rally 
at Onikan Stadium in Lagos.  According to civil society 
activists, police arrived in large numbers and harassed and 
beat the crowd.  ANPP Presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari 
was threatened by political thugs and security services to 
prevent his attendance at the rally.  An estimated 80 
demonstrators were arrested at the venue. Other reports 
indicate at least 200 potential demonstrators were detained 
in and around the area. 
 
¶12.  Agents of the State Security Service (SSS) beat the 
Presidential Candidate of the National Conscience Party, Dr. 
Osagie Obayuwana, as he and his followers tried to take part 
in a Labor Day celebration May 1 at Ogbe Stadium in Benin 
City, Edo state.  Obaywuana and Chief Dide Adodo, an official 
of the Labour Party, were subsequently arrested by SSS and 
told that the day "was for workers, not for civil society 
organizations."  At another labor rally in Ondo State, 
journalist Dare Folorunso was beaten to unconsciousness, 
reportedly by Assistant Police Commissioner Mr. Joshua Mumbo 
and 10 others.  When some members of the crowd protested the 
assault, police threatened to shoot them. 
 
¶13.  The Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) officially petitioned 
Inspector General of Police Sunday Ehindero over the arrests 
 
ABUJA 00000923  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
and brutalization of its members and other activists during 
the May 1 workers' day celebrations.  In particular, the NLC 
condemned the activities of some policemen such as Mumbo, who 
personally assaulted journalist Dare Folorunsho. 
 
¶14.  The AC gubernatorial candidate in Osun State, Rauf 
Aregbesola,  told a leading Nigerian newspaper on May 3 that 
over 200 opposition supporters were arrested or detained by 
the security agents in addition to the "scores of innocent 
citizens" killed during the elections.  A riot broke out in 
Osun state immediately after INEC had declared PDP as the 
winner of the governorship election.  "There is a serious 
case of human rights abuse by the Osun State government in 
collaboration with the police.  As I am talking to you, over 
200 of our people were arrested and put into various into 
jails in Osun State for supporting AC," Argebesola said. 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
¶15.  The laundry list of incidents above is typical of events 
around Nigeria since the election, and most such incidents go 
unreported.  Though some commentators are surprised at the 
absence of mass protests given the widespread public 
condemnation of the election, it is clear from the incidents 
above that organizing public protest is difficult and can be 
dangerous. 
CAMPBELL