President Olusegun Obasanjo canceled a trip to Zimbabwe and called an emergency Cabinet meeting. Afterward his spokesman, Tunji Oseni, issued a statement saying "no effort will be spared" to end Nigeria's "culture of violence in politics." Later Monday, the president ordered army troops into the streets of Osun state amid fears of violence, and state television announced a nighttime curfew in the state. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 120 million people, is regularly rocked by violent feuding along political, ethnic and religious lines. Bose Ehindero, a relative of Ige who answered the phone at the official's residence Monday morning, said Ige and his wife, Tinuke Ige, were in their bedroom when the assailants burst in on them. He was shot despite pleas from his wife, an appeals court judge, to spare his life, Ehindero added. A team of police officers assigned to protect Ige were away from their posts eating dinner at the time, Ehindero said. The Lagos daily newspaper ThisDay speculated the killing was linked to a violent political feud between the state's governor and his deputy. Last week, an Osun state legislator, Odunayo Olagbaju, was bludgeoned to death outside his home in the city of Ife, provoking riots in the city. Five people were reported killed. Olagbaju had been a supporter of Osun Deputy Gov. Iyiola Omisore. A few days ago, Ige reportedly escaped a mob attack in Ife in which his hat was knocked off and his glasses broken. Ige had apparently backed Osun State Gov. Bamidele Adebisi Akande, ThisDay said. Ige was the founder of one of Nigeria's three registered political parties, the Alliance for Democracy. Just weeks ago, he was chosen to serve in 2002 on the prestigious U.N. international law commission. Obasanjo quickly recruited Ige into his government following 1999 elections that ended military rule, even though the two had campaigned for opposing parties. Like Obasanjo, Ige had spent time in prison under the junta and was a Yoruba, the predominant ethnic group in Nigeria's southwest. Ige led the World Council of Churches' anti-racism campaign in the early 1970s and later became governor of Oyo State during Nigeria's previous period of civilian rule, 1979-83. He was generally well-liked by many of his fellow Yorubas but distrusted by some northerners for the years he spent campaigning against the northern-dominated military. As justice minister, he also drew criticism from some northern Muslims for statements against moves by several states to implement Islamic law. Ige also gained the wrath of state governments in the Niger Delta, where he was seen as responsible for a ruling that restricts the states' earnings from offshore oil drilling.