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True, the current revelations by spy cable Wikileaks has ruffled feathers all over the world and revealed that no country’s secret is truly ‘safe’. In this write-up, SHUAIB SHUAIB, carefully considers what this means for Nigerian government operatives who have been implicated by the leaks and the dire implications for a country whose security is suspect . . .
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Two weeks ago, when the anti-secrecy website, Wikileaks released its largest ever volume of communication cables from US embassies and consulates around the world, the US government responded ?by saying the identifies of its informants, who willingly or in some cases, unwittingly gave away classified information had been compromised. ?The US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland said, “The United States strongly condemns any illegal disclosure of classified information. In addition to damaging our diplomatic efforts, it puts individuals’ security at risk, threatens our national security and undermines our effort to work with countries to solve shared problems. We remain concerned about these illegal disclosures and about concerns and risks to individuals. We continue to carefully monitor what becomes public and to take steps to mitigate the damage to national security and to assist those who may be harmed by these illegal disclosures to the extent that we can.”
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?A former assistant secretary of state of the country went further and said to US media that, “It does have the potential to create further risk for those individuals who have talked to U.S. diplomats. It has the potential to hurt our diplomatic efforts and it once again puts careers at risk.” Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, like no other president before him wanted to keep a lid on the information that staff were permitted to reveal to the public or anyone outside of Aso Rock. Just over year after he had been elected president and with word going round that he was not in good health, he had about 70 of the civil servants and presidential aides in the Villa take oaths of secrecy. There was very little doubt that the president did not want his state of health known to the world. The special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Reuben Abati who still with the Guardian
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Newspaper at that time had this to say about the oath of secrecy which was also administered to aides of then Vice President Jonathan, “Coming shortly after a spell of public exertion over the President’s whereabouts for three weeks, and the state of his health, with allegations that there were too many persons in the corridors of power with mouths that run like water taps, it is right to conclude that the President and his handlers are seeking to gag the men and women who by their positions and the nature of their jobs are in a position to be privy to happenings within the Presidential chamber. What has now been slammed on Aso Villa staff is a law of silence, very much like the tradition of the La Casa Nostra, the notorious Italian Mafia and its law of omerta. Laws of silence belong to seceret societies, not to open governments. It is true that for purposes of national stability and security, countries usually categorise some kinds of official information as “Classified”; information relating to war, trade and foreign relations may also not be purveyed too publicly, but to impose a law of silence on Nigerian citizens is persecutorial.” In the end, not all the aides that were
sworn to secrecy could manage to hold their tongues. From his doctor in Germany to one treating him in Saudi Arabia and down to his aides, all were providing US embassy staff with sensitive information about his health. Here, the embassy in Abuja asked the State Department to protect the
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German doctor’s identity suggesting he was revealing information he should not have. ?The US embassy in Abuja wrote; “Peter Galle (protect), a German doctor and the Director of Internal Medicine at Universitats Medizin in Mainz, confirmed to PolOff November 28, that President Yar’Adua suffered from terminal lung cancer, a condition the doctor claimed to have diagnosed personally in April 2008. He expressed surprise that Yar’Adua remained alive, and said that he may be asked to stop in Saudi Arabia on the way back to Germany. One confidant at Yar’Adua’s bedside insisted to the Ambassador on December 1, that Yar’Adua is still unwell but does not yet appear to be at death’s door; however, a doctor treating Yar’Adua told CG Jeddah at about the same time that the Nigerian president is in his final days. We suspect the latter report is more credible; so, we are looking at contingencies for the Mission… Also on December 1, a doctor involved in Yar’Adua’s treatment at King Faisal Hospital told CG Jeddah that the Nigerian president’s condition is “malignant and irreversible,” and that the end could occur in a matter of days or less.” ?Dr Dale Ogunbayo, a medical consultant in the FCT has however, said that what these doctors did by revealing information about Yar’Adua’s health without his consent is unethical. Dr Ogunbayo who works as a health consultant to the secretariat of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum said, “I believe it is unethical except if they were revealing the information to fellow health practitioners and were seeking advice on treatment options or they were prompted by security reasons. If that is not the case, then it is unethical. I think Nigerians seeking medical services will know that nothing is secret.” Dr Ogunbayo however, added that in some of these countries, the health condition of public figures is usually public knowledge.?
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?A presidential aide, Sani Musa who supposedly was among those that were sworn to secrecy, also spoke to US embassy staff in the last days of Yar’Adua’s presidency. The US cables reported this; “Musa noted that he had heard only three hours beforehand about Yar’Adua’s impending return to Abuja. ?He noted that, after arrival, the aircraft crew had turned off exterior lights to prevent anyone nearby from taking photographs of President Yar’Adua as he moved from the aircraft to a waiting ambulance. ?Musa said he heard that Yar’Adua had walked the short distance from the aircraft to the ambulance, which had pulled up as close as possible to the aircraft. ?He denied a press report alleging that Yar’Adua had to be transported on a stretcher. Earlier cables had this to say; “Presidential Advisor Sani Musa told PolCouns January 15 that persistent rumours of Yar’Adua’s death (including that he had died as long ago as December 10) and the march that unfolded in Abuja on January 13 to protest the President’s prolonged absence had forced the Yar’Adua inner circle to arrange the radio interview” ?In later cables, “Musa stated his conviction that Yar’Adua had only a short time to live and could not resume his presidential duties even if he returned alive to Nigeria. ?
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He disclosed the delivery of expensive medical equipment recently to the Presidential Villa along with plans to arrange for medical personnel from Saudi Arabia to travel to Abuja to oversee continued treatment. ?He had heard that Yar’Adua was scheduled to return January 10 to Abuja, but this event did not materialize because the inner circle first wanted Saudi-based doctors to verify the adequacy of arrangements for Yar’Adua’s follow-on treatment at the Villa. ?Presidential Advisor Sani Musa told PolCouns February 25 that President Yar’Adua returned from Saudi Arabia the previous day to prevent the February 25 FEC from establishing a medical panel to declare Yar’Adua permanently incapacitated.” ?Jonathan Elendu, a Nigerian journalist who manages the news website Elundu Reports and is accustomed to digging out sensitive information from those in authority, does not doubt that there are people around President Goodluck Jonathan who are right now feeding US embassy officials and a host of others, sensitive information about all that is happening within the Jonathan presidency. Elendu said, “Of course that should be expected. If you look at the people in this government, it is easy for foreign agents to get them to reveal sensitive information about the government they claim to serve.
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These people in government have little regard for our own people, that is why they have become easy preys for foreign governments. Wikileaks has exposed our public officials, highly placed individuals and their naivety. How can they open up to foreign governments and not expect what they say to go into their records. The foreign governments will naturally use their utterances to judge Nigeria and its people. Elendu however said, “As an investigative journalist, it is good for our democracy, the more information that is out there is good for our people. The only thing is that they spoke to foreigners instead of our own media. It shows that there is no secret in this world, it is a fact. Whatever they say in secret, it will come out in public. I urge the Attorney General to look for ways to prosecute these people.” But it was not only people around the president that were talking, the United States’ also kept tabs on things happening within the ruling People’s Democratic Party and was asking the State Department to protect the identities of its informants. According to the US cables; “PDP National Executive Committee (NEC) member Aminu Bello Masari (protect) told Poloff on April 15 that he expects no fireworks at the April 20 PDP Special National Convention.
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?According to Masari, the NEC reached a compromise at its meeting on April 2, resolving to remove 2006 amendments to the party constitution that de facto reserved the position of Chairman of the party’s Board of Trustees (BOT) for former President Olusegun Obasanjo. ?As part of the compromise, Obasanjo will remain BOT Chairman until the end of his current term in 2011. ?(Note: Originally, discontented members of the party had sought not only to amend the party constitution, but also to remove Obasanjo as BOT Chairman. Masari was critical of what he saw as anti-democratic tendencies in the party over the past few years, such as moves to reduce the number of elected delegates, while the number who were essentially the staff of state governors was increased.” An aide to Dimeji Bankole who became Speaker of the House of Representatives after Masari was also to have his identity as an informant strictly protected when he spoke to embassy officails early in Yar’Adua’s government. The embassy wrote, “Maurice Ekpenyong (strictly protect), Special Assistant to House Speaker Dimeji Bankole, told Poloff on March 25 that the PDP statements were part of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering in preparation for 2011 elections.
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?Ekpenyong maintained that each level of politician is trying to protect his own interest — president, governors, and NASS members. ?Ekpenyong said senior PDP leadership confirmed that “automatic tickets” were not promised because of public commitments to rule of law and strengthening internal democracy; however, he told Poloff the PDP is using other means to ensure re-election for those in office. ?For example, he cited the dropping of the recommendations (from the Electoral Reform Committee) that the Chairman and most of the members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) be chosen by the National Judicial Council rather than the President, and that the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs — which are now chosen by the Governors) be abolished. ?Ekpenyong maintained that presidential appointment of the INEC Chair assures the President’s re-election and the continued existence of SIECs gives the governors a similar assurance.” Even the sociopolitical organisations like Afenifere, members of ?non governmental organisations and the Nigerian Union of Journalists were not left out of those giving away information. Members of each of these organisations helped paint the picture the embassy has of former Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose as a murderer and corrupt politician. A member of the Ekiti State Assembly and a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and lawyer to the EFCC were also among several others whose identities needed strict protection for giving accounts of Fayose’s corrupt track record and the classified information about the EFCC case against the former governor. The embassy denied Fayose an entry visa to the US describing him as a destabilising factor in Nigeria’s democracy.
Fayose, the embassy in Abuja reckoned, was also trying to flee the country and escape prosecution. In this particular case, US probably had no other option other than protecting their informants identities to avoid vengeful attacks.
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The US cables reported that, “The GON’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged Fayose in December 2007 with 51-counts of money laundering and misuse of government funds to the tune of over N11.9billion (approx. $81.2million). ?According to the EFCC, Fayose is alleged to have set up phony companies, one of them named Biological Concepts, where he diverted N800million, ($5.4million) from government contracts for an Ekiti state poultry project, while another N11billion, ($74.8million) is still reported missing. The EFCC also charged Fayose for diverting the poultry project funds to build his N25million, ($170,000) house in Afao Ekiti.
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The EFCC is investigating Fayose’s two other home purchases in Ibadan totaling N60million, ($498,000) and his conversion of N2.4million, ($16,327) into foreign currency toward the purchase of a Mercedes Benz for his mother.” ?Olufemi Aduwo, the national coordinator of the Conference on Security, Development and Democracy, a non governmental organisation however, admitted that some NGOs and even lawyers gave away information without realising the implications. Aduwo who felt that most of the information from the cables are true in spite of denials by government officials said, “Wikileaks revealed information about American intelligence, they did not deny it. What some of these lawyers were doing during Nuhu Ribadu was that as soon as ?they were briefed by Ribadu, they would run to the governors concerned and offer to compromise the case. That was what some lawyers were doing in Lagos. People do not know that I was the one that initiated the Code of Conduct Tribunal case against Bola Tinubu.
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They do not know the kind of risk I am going through.” Aduwo also said he intends to send a proposal to the National Security Adviser and the president to convene a forum that will look at how NGOs operate. He said, “some of the NGOs are foreign. When embassies give them peanuts, they do not realise that the information they are giving put the nation at risk. The only thing I do with foreign organisations is share information during elections.” ? The list of people running their mouths is endless. There are officials in and around the NNPC that even cables did not reveal their identities, there are deputy governors who indict their bosses on several counts, there traditional title holders and even lawmakers.?