VZCZCXRO6318
OO RUEHPA
DE RUEHUJA #2035 2891517
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 151517Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY ABUJA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4181
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 0418
RUEHOS/AMCONSUL LAGOS 0074
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0385
RUEAHQA/AFRICA CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK

C O N F I D E N T I A L ABUJA 002035 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W, INR/AA 
DOE FOR GEORGE PERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2018 
TAGS: PGOV KCOR KCRI NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: EFCC CLARIFIES STATUS OF EX-GOVERNORS' 
CASES 
 
REF: ABUJA 1645 
 
Classified By: Acting DCM Walter Pflaumer for reasons 1.4. (b & d). 
 
¶1. (C) Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) 
Chairman Farida Waziri's response October 13 to a question on 
the prosecution of 31 former governors (a number provided to 
the press by former EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu prior to the 
May 2007 elections) at a roundtable discussion on the adverse 
effect of corruption on Millennium Development Goals appears 
to have been taken out of context in press reports that 
appeared October 14.  The October 14 reports quoted Waziri's 
statement as "I don't have 31 files; there is no prima facie 
case against them."  In a press report clarifying her 
comments, Waziri's full quote was printed.  Our sense is that 
it is in line with what she told the Ambassador on July 21, 
when she expressed disappointment with the EFCC's failure, 
while under her predecessor, to build strong case files. EFCC 
Chief of Protocol Bako Mohammed told Poloff on October 15 
that the statement printed on October 14 was simply out of 
context.  The reprint on October 15, he maintained, explains 
the status of the cases. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Begin text of the full quote, as printed in the 
October 15 press: 
In response to a question from a participant on why the EFCC 
has not yet prosecuted all 31 of the ex-governors, Waziri 
said: "We work on facts available to us and not on 
speculations.   There are no case files on all of these 
people as being suggested.  We are now beginning to 
investigate and prosecute some of them.  Truthfully, I got 
there and what I found is what I am working with.  I work on 
the case files I found to see if there is prima facie (case) 
evident.  But if there is nothing in the case file, or there 
is no case file at all, there is nothing I can do other than 
start afresh." . . . "Therefore, there are no '31 case files 
on ex-governors' as claimed.  Before arraigning anyone there 
must be facts, there must be evidence, there must be 
witnesses.  And these things we are working on quietly to put 
together before we can take any of them to court." 
 
¶3. (C) COMMENT:  At present, charges have been brought 
against at least nine former governors.  Post has no proof 
that there ever actually were 31 case files, as claimed by 
former Chairman Ribadu.  Given that the statement that the 
EFCC was investigating 31 governors came in the run-up to the 
2007 elections and that the EFCC was used by former President 
Obasanjo as a political tool, it is highly likely that the 
statement was aimed more at checking the political 
aspirations of several former governors than a true 
indication of in-depth and ongoing investigations.  Although 
it is certainly possible Waziri is disguising a lack of 
political will by making charges of EFCC ineptitude against 
her predecessor, we do not find it entirely implausible that 
at least a portion of the files are either non-existent or 
substantively lacking. 
 
¶4. (U) This cable was coordinated with Consulate Lagos. 
Piascik