Soft drilling to end "culture of violence"?
mattd
mattd at useoz.com
Mon Dec 24 23:25:56 PST 2001
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.
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