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P 291548Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL LAGOS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1194
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHUJA/AMEMBASSY ABUJA 0012
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH AFB UK
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000036 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/FO, AF/W, AF/RSA, DRL, INR/AA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/29/2030 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM SOCI NI
SUBJECT: ELECTORAL COMMISSION CHIEF DEFENDS HIS PAST AND 
PRESENT PERFORMANCE 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Robin R. Sanders; Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (C) Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) 
Chairperson Professor Maurice Iwu passionately defended his 
performance as head of Nigeria's electoral body during a 
January 28 office call by Ambassador and PolOff (note-taker). 
 He also discussed INEC's preparations for the February 2010 
Anambra gubernatorial and 2011 national elections, noting 
that he welcomed observation of the Anambra elections by U.S. 
and other observers.  The Ambassador noted that the USG did 
not have confidence in him or INEC,s ability to run a fair 
election process, and that we remained one of his greatest 
critics.  Iwu took this on board, confirmed his nationality, 
adamantly defended his INEC record in the 2007 election; and, 
believed INEC was prepared to conduct decent elections in 
¶2011.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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IWU TENURE ENDS IN JUNE 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Iwu provided a report card of his tenure as 
Chairman, after appointment by previous President Obasanjo in 
2005 to a five-year term, set to expire in June.  He said his 
appointment is scheduled to expire in June 2010, but he did 
not say whether he would recommit for another term, nor did 
he offer clues as to who the new INEC chief may be.  He said 
he welcomed the participation of civil society and 
international election observers, noting that he had 
authorized the granting of credentials to representatives 
from 33 civil society organizations, stakeholders, and 
interest groups, including six observers from the U.S. 
Mission in Nigeria, in the upcoming Anambra vote. 
 
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INEC'S ROLE 
----------- 
 
¶3. (C) Iwu claimed that "INEC doesn't conduct elections," 
explaining that in the past, the Resident Electoral 
Commissioner (REC) appointed poll workers, supervised their 
work, supervised the vote tabulation, and submitted results 
to INEC.  INEC officials, he claimed, had no role in the 
accuracy of the vote count at the polling stations because 
they were not present in the polling stations in 2007.  In 
2011 INEC staffers will be in the polling stations.  He then 
went on to identified a litany of problems that he described 
as "beyond his control," including voter intimidation; police 
uniforms worn by others; unlimited campaign spending; 
ownership of the news media by politicians, thereby producing 
biased news coverage; lack of gender balance among 
candidates; allegations of political parties buying voter 
cards to influence the vote; and disproportional emphasis on 
winning elections at all costs -- causing a "willingness to 
kill for power."  He remarked that political campaigning had 
become a full-time occupation, allowing little time for 
officials to govern.  Iwu complained of lack of internal 
democracy in political parties, which, he alleged, did not 
even obey their own rules.  He also noted the high propensity 
for election violence in the country because of these issues. 
 Non-governmental organizations created by partisans, he 
said, often signed up to serve as monitors, thereby working 
to influence results for their parties.  Iwu, in particular, 
slammed the proliferation of political parties in Nigeria. 
He noted that INEC, to date has registered 57 parties -- all 
of which, he claimed had "no differences, no principles, and 
no platforms."  In short, he described them all as 
"interchangeable." 
 
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WHAT INEC,S PLANS ARE FOR 2011 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) He claimed that this litany of electoral problems in 
Nigeria remained beyond his ability to change, but that INEC 
was trying to put in place as many procedures as possible to 
reduce these problems.  Of note, he highlighted bio 
data-linked voter cards, and having both INEC and National 
Youth Corps staff serve as poll monitors (which had not been 
 
LAGOS 00000036  002 OF 003 
 
 
the case in recent national elections) to have better 
oversight over the process.  Before, in 2007, Iwu claimed 
Regional Electoral Commissioners (REC,s) chose the polling 
monitors from the local community building in vested 
interest, rigging, and lack of transparency at the polls. 
The RECs will no longer have that role with the INEC staff 
and National Youth Corps members in that position, and will 
only have the role of certifying the results at the state 
level after all of the INEC staff, National Youth Corps, 
political party and civil society representatives who are 
monitors have certified their records before they are sent to 
the state level.  The INEC Chairman added that voting ballots 
will also be serialized and that INEC had recommended that 
the general election be conducted over two days given the 
size of Nigeria.  What INEC has recommended to the executive 
branch is to conduct the national elections over two days. 
For example, on day one the northeast and southeast will hold 
elections and on day two, the northwest and southwest will. 
The INEC Board felt given the logistical challenges of the 
country that this would help alleviate the problems that 
happened in 2007.  This recommendation does not require a 
constitutional amendment, and most of Nigeria,s election 
problems are based on a lack of respect for transparent 
elections processes as opposed to problems in the Election 
Act of 2006. 
 
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USG SEES IWU AND INEC AS OBSTACLES FOR 2011 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) The Ambassador stated that her intent was not to be 
personally rude, but that the USG had little faith and 
confidence in either his ability or INEC,s to run a 
transparent election process.  In addition, most of the 
stakeholders that spoke to the recent US-UK funded election 
assessment team cited lack of confidence in the entire INEC 
Board.  INEC they believed was the number one problem for the 
2011 election.  She wanted to know how he expected to rebuild 
this confidence in not only himself, but the institution 
responsible for running the elections, INEC. 
 
¶6. (C) For his part, Iwu said he has heard the critics, and 
that he is okay with the criticism because he is a man of 
"integrity, a scientist," and had no gain from serving as 
INEC Chairman.  His goal in accepting the INEC position was 
to give back to his country of birth.  Iwu said that he felt 
he had the systematic, research-based skills to help Nigeria 
turn its history of bad elections around.  The INEC Chairman 
added that he had no regrets because he did his "job in good 
faith," and as outlined above the "the culture of rigging and 
corruption are areas not under INEC,s control to change." 
"Those who claim INEC was responsible for these problems in 
2007 do not know Nigeria," he concluded.  The Ambassador said 
that all eyes of the international community will be on 
INEC,s performance in the upcoming gubernatorial election in 
Anambra to see if anything he outlined above regarding an 
improvement in the process pans out. 
 
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ANAMBRA TESTS NEW METHODS 
------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Iwu said that INEC was ready for Anambra, and see it 
as a test case, particularly using the National Youth Corps 
and INEC staff as poll monitors.  According to the INEC 
Chairman, the gubernatorial election in Anambra will be the 
first one to pilot use of a new biometric voter card, 
containing a data chip and a color photograph of the voter, 
to try to stop voter substitutions.  Due to the low 
percentage of voters who have picked up their new biometric 
card, however, voters may cast their ballots if they report 
to a polling station where they registered, their name 
appears on the voter list, and they show a temporary card. 
The indelible ink used on forefinger to vote will serve as a 
control to prevent multiple voting by the same individual. He 
also shared with us that there were 4,000 polling stations in 
the state, and therefore to ensure a smooth process they 
planned to have 8,000 monitors, roughly 2 at each polling 
site. 
 
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COMMENT 
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LAGOS 00000036  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶8. (C) Iwu passionately defended his neutrality, personal 
reputation, and feeling of duty to his country.  He explained 
some of the changes in procedures that INEC has implemented 
during his tenure, reportedly to make elections more credible 
and smooth.  It remains to be seen if any of the new INEC 
procedures will work.  Admittedly, the environment in which 
he and INEC operate is not the most conducive to credible 
elections, with pervasive corruption and almost universal 
impunity.  For better or worse, the INEC Chairperson has 
presided over numerous state-level elections marred by fraud 
and violence, including the national elections in 2007.  Even 
if the Anambra elections go more smoothly than expected, his 
legacy will be a largely negative one at best.  However, 
expectations are that the potential for vote rigging and 
fraud in the Anambra elections are high given candidates like 
the former CBN governor Soludo who reportedly will stop at no 
amount of money to ensure he ends up in the governor,s 
mansion.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶9. (U) ConGen Lagos coordinated this telegram with Embassy 
Abuja. 
BLAIR