VZCZCXRO8511
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #1153/01 1581309
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071309Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9774
INFO RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 7056
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 0351
RUEHCD/AMCONSUL CIUDAD JUAREZ 0352

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001153 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR KJUS NI
SUBJECT: President Yar'Adua's First Appointments 
 
ABUJA 00001153  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  President Yar'Adua made some of the first official 
appointments to his government on May 30.  He announced that 
Ambassador Babagana Kingibe is the new Secretary to the Government 
of the Federation (SGF), while Major-General Abdullahi Mohammed 
retains the post of Chief of Staff and Major-General Abdullahi 
Mukhtar will continue to serve as the National Security Advisor 
(NSA).  Finally, Mike Mbama Okiro became Acting Inspector General of 
Police on June 1.  There is an ongoing process to vet candidates for 
other top staff positions and Ministerial seats.  However, 
Ministerial candidates are not likely to be named until later this 
month and candidates need to be confirmed by the Nigerian Senate, 
which is in recess until the last week of June.  End Summary. 
 
--------------- 
Kingibe is SGF 
--------------- 
 
¶2.  Babagana Kingibe has taken over for Chief Ufot Ekaete as the 
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), a key position 
 
SIPDIS 
in the presidency which is roughly equivalent to the American 
President's Chief of Staff.  The SGF coordinates cabinet meetings 
and provides policy direction to political appointees and agencies 
under the presidency.   He is usually a trusted associate of the 
president and is therefore influential to key decisions and policy 
outcomes.  The SGF is often a serving or retired career civil 
servant with wide-range of experience in public service.  Nigerians 
at times read the mood of the government through SGF.  As SGF, 
Babagana Kingibe should help President Yar'Adua understand the 
intrigues and workings of government at the federal level.  He will 
need to serve as a bridge between the North and the South having 
been a high level politician with a network of contacts across 
Nigeria. 
 
 
¶3.  Babagana Kingibe, administrator, broadcaster, lecturer, career 
diplomat and politician, was the vice-presidential running mate to 
the late Chief Moshood Abiola in the annulled 1993 presidential 
election. He was a political ally of the late General Shehu 
Yar'Adua, senior brother of President Yar'Adua and founder of 
Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), the most influential political 
association in Nigeria.  Kingibe was a member of the PDM's 
think-tank.  He studied at the University of Sussex, England and the 
BBC Training School in London. He taught Political Science at the 
Ahmadu Bello University Zaria between 1969 and 1970. As a 
broadcaster, Kingibe worked as head of Current Affairs and Features 
Department at the Northern Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation, now 
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. He was Nigerian Ambassador to 
Greece with concurrent accreditation to Cyprus from 1981-84 and 
Pakistan from 1984-87. He was secretary of Constituent Assembly 
1988-89. 
 
¶4.  Kingibe, aged 62, until recently the African Union (AU) Special 
Representative for Darfur, is a consummate politician who had also 
served as national chairman of defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) 
1992-93. He is very familiar with the workings of government and had 
served as Minister for Foreign Affairs; Internal Affairs; Power and 
steel. 
 
----------------------- 
Continuity for NSA, COS 
----------------------- 
 
¶5.  President Umar Yar'Adua retained Generals Abdullahi Mohammed as 
Chief of Staff and Abdullahi Sarki Mukhtar as National Security 
Adviser.  These two retired generals held the same portfolios in the 
Obasanjo administration.  Their retention is supposed to help 
Yar'Adua keep tabs on the military since he does not belong to that 
constituency.  Thus apart from continuity of policies, their staying 
behind may ward off any possible attempts to seize power by 
ambitious military officers. 
 
¶6.  General Mukhtar was born in 1949 and hails from Kano.  He joined 
the army in 1968 and retired in 1999.  While in the Nigerian army, 
he served as the military governor of Katsina and Kaduna States.  He 
was appointed NSA last year following the exit of General Aliyu 
Mohammed.  Prior to this, Mukhtar served as Nigeria's ambassador to 
Russia. 
 
¶7.  Retired General Mohammed has been in the presidential villa 
since the emergence of General Abdulsalami Abubakar as Nigerian 
leader in 1998.  A former Director of Military Intelligence, 
Mohammed was instrumental to the successful coup d'etat against 
General Yakubu Gowon in 1975 that ushered in Murtala/Obasanjo 
regime.  He was appointed military governor of Benue State as a 
reward for his pivotal role in the coup.  Mohammed was a key figure 
 
ABUJA 00001153  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
throughout the lifetime of the first and second coming of the 
Obasanjo administration. 
 
---------------- 
Police Shake-Up 
---------------- 
 
¶8.  The Presidency announced on May 30 that former Inspector General 
of Police (IGP) Sunday Ehindero was to hand over power to his most 
senior deputy at a ceremony June 1.  Nigerian press reported widely 
that Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Ogbonnaya Onovo, who headed the 
Administration and Finance Department, was the most senior and would 
take charge.  However, plans changed by June 1, and Ehindero handed 
over power to DIG Mike Mbama Okiro instead.  There has been a great 
deal of speculation about the sudden about face, including 
accusations that there may have been some scandal connected to 
Onovo's tenure at the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) 
in 1998.  Igbo organizations and prominent human rights lawyer Gani 
Fawehinimi have accused Yar'Adua of passing over Onovo because he is 
Igbo.  Critics claim that Igbos have been deliberated excluded from 
serving as IGP since independence. 
 
¶9.  Mike Mbama Okiro was born July 24, 1949 in Egbema, an area that 
was then the East Central State.  (His home has since been part of 
Imo, and is currently in Rivers due to boundary changes.)  He is an 
ethnic Igbo.  He holds a B.A. from the University of Ibadan, and MPA 
from University of Lagos, and a law degree from University of Jos. 
He has been in the Nigerian Police Force since 1977 and was praised 
for his work as Lagos State Police Commissioner for fighting crime 
and keeping "area boys" and the Oodua People's Congress under 
control. 
 
¶10.  In his first public statement June 5, IGP Okiro told the press 
that he is eliminating police road blocks with immediate effect, 
saying that the road blocks were "a bastion of corruption and other 
vices associated with the police."  He pledged to reform the police 
to improve service delivery, increase respect for human rights, and 
fight corruption.  He announced the creation of 12 anti-corruption 
teams in the six geopolitical zones, which will be equipped with 
hotline numbers to receive complaints from the public. 
 
------------------ 
Federal Character 
------------------ 
 
¶11.  Section 14, subsection 3 of the 1999 Nigerian constitution says 
that "the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of 
its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in 
such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the 
need to promote national unity."  In practice, this constitutional 
clause has been implemented as a kind of affirmative action program, 
whereby where all states and ethnic groups must be represented in 
federal appointments.  In ministerial appointments, each state must 
have at least one indigene serving as a Minister.  In order to help 
achieve this state by state balance, the PDP instructed all state 
chapters and governors of the party to submit names of 3 party 
members from their state for consideration as Ministers. 
 
¶12.  President Yar'Adua has followed the path of federal character 
in his recent appointments.  Kingibe is Kanuri from the Northeast, 
Mukhtar is Hausa/Fulani from Northwest, Mohammed belongs to Yoruba 
ethnic group from Northcentral, while Okiro is an ethnic Igbo who 
hails from Rivers State.  Other subsequent Villa staff appointments 
may follow the same pattern. 
 
-------- 
Comment 
-------- 
 
¶13.  There is a great deal of lobbying and jostling for positions 
occurring in Abuja this month, but meanwhile many Ministries and 
government offices remain empty and adrift.  We do not expect formal 
announcement of Ministerial candidates until the end of June, and 
those nominees will need to be screened by the Nigerian Senate when 
it reconvenes during the final week of June.  Observers will be 
watching to see whether many players are retained from the Obasanjo 
government as sign of Yar'Adua's perceived loyalty or independence. 
End comment. 
 
CAMPBELL