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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
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RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 001898 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA 
DOE FOR GEORGE PERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2018 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PM KDEM NI
SUBJECT: POLITICAL MANEUVERING DELAYS DECISION ON PICK FOR 
NIGER DELTA MINISTER 
 
Classified By: Amb. Robin Renee Sanders for reasons 1.4. (b & d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Governor of Bayelsa State, Timpre Silva, told 
Ambassador September 17 that the position of the Niger Delta 
(ND) Minister, in the recently created ND Ministry, is 
causing a lot of political jockeying.  The ND Ministry was 
created recently by ailing President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua as 
part of his first steps in reorganizing and reshuffling his 
government, upon returning from medical treatment in Saudi 
Arabia in early September.  Reports were that the final 
touches are being put on the cabinet reshuffle with 
announcements scheduled for late the week of September 22. 
Silva said in principle he and the other two governors in the 
conflict-prone core ND States are pleased with the elevation 
of ND issues to the level of a Ministry as it will force 
sustained federal level attention on the ND issues, and he 
hopes it will better coordinate resources as well as policy. 
"The new proposed Ministry gives us a level of regular and 
organized access to the President and other Ministers that we 
have not had before," he said. "The is the first time in 
history," Silva said, " that the Niger Delta, through an 
empowered Minister, will have a seat at Federal Executive 
Council (FEC) meetings (which are Nigeria's cabinet 
meetings).8 
 
¶2.  (C) The Ambassador asked Silva if he knew who the 
potential new ND Minister might be; for instance, would it be 
him or another current or former governor from the area? 
Silva said clearly he was not interested in the position as 
he was committed to seeing the development of his state 
through, but added he was very interested -- as is River 
Governor Amaechi -- in getting not only someone he knew well 
on seat, but his "own person" on seat, which he noted that he 
did not want to elaborate on because discussions were so 
delicate at this stage and neither he nor the other Governors 
wanted to show their hands.  He added that the political 
decision of who gets the position is causing a lot of 
"political jockeying" in Abuja and elsewhere, as many are 
beginning to see this as a resource-rich Ministry, 
particularly if the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) 
gets subsumed under the new Niger Delta Ministry as is being 
planned.  Silva opined that he thought that the delay in 
announcing the new cabinet overall was in part linked to the 
struggles over who will be the first ND Minister. 
 
 ¶3.  (C) Comment.  We anticipate that the Nigerian Government 
will come to closure on the new cabinet by the end of week of 
September 22. Tensions remain high more in Abuja, Lagos, ND 
states, the North and certain parts of the south, than they 
do in the rest of the country, such as the west and the east. 
In checking on how Federal issues, the pending cabinet 
reshuffle, and the ND fit as a priority with Eastern 
Governors in a recent trip to the region by Ambassador, those 
Governors are very much state-only focused and seemed less 
concerned about the goings-on in Abuja.  We know that 
Presidential Special Economic Advisor Yakubu and new 
Secretary to the Federal Government Mahmud Yayale Ahmed are 
playing key roles in either driving or assisting Yar'Adua in 
making decisions on the new ministers.  We further understand 
that Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki, who is head of the 
Governor's Forum, also has influence on these decisions, and 
Ambassador will be seeing him to sound him out on these 
issues and to see how the Northerners may or may not be 
organizing themselves during this very delicate period in 
Nigeria.  End Comment. 
SANDERS