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Another Nigeria state governorship candidate slain

By Tume Ahemba

LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian state governorship candidate has been slain in what the police said on Tuesday could be a political assassination, the latest sign of worsening violence ahead of crucial general elections next year.

Ayo Daramola of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), who was a candidate for governor in the southwestern state of Ekiti, was stabbed and shot in his home in the small hours of Monday, police said.

"He was stabbed in the left side of the abdomen, there was also some shooting," national police spokesman Haz Iwendi said.

"It could be political assassination ... but we are not ruling out anything. We are looking at all possibilities," Iwendi said by phone from the capital Abuja. No arrests have so far been made.

Daramola was the third governorship candidate to be murdered in Africa's top oil producer in the last two months. His assailants scaled the fence of his home in Ijan-Ekiti, attacked his guards and burrowed a hole to his bedroom where they killed him, police said.

Daramola was killed hours after he staged a campaign rally in the state capital Ado Ekiti on Sunday. Ekiti is one of five states the ruling party snatched from opposition Alliance for Democracy party in controversial polls in 2003.

The killing sparked riots in Ado Ekiti on Monday where rampaging youths burnt some buildings, including the PDP secretariat and home of the state party chairman, and smashed cars in protest, local media said.

The presidency and two-thirds of powerful state governors' seats are up for grabs in elections slated for April 2007, which should mark the first time one elected government hands over to another since Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960.

Africa's most populous nation was ruled almost continuously by military dictators for three decades.

Nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999, but electoral violence has remained a feature of political life in the world's eighth biggest oil exporter.

The run-up to the 2003 poll was marred by electoral violence and by ethnic killings orchestrated mainly by politicians.

Three weeks ago, a governorship candidate in Nigeria's largest city of Lagos, Funso Williams of the ruling PDP party was strangled in his home.

About a dozen top politicians detained by the police in relation to his assassination were released on Monday, according to the local press, leading many to believe that like many past political killings, this would end up as another undetected murder.

Williams's killing followed that of a governorship candidate of the new opposition Advanced Congress of Democrats, who was slain in the central state of Plateau in what police said was a political assassination.

The use of hired thugs to intimidate opponents or voters is a common tactic in many parts of Nigeria.

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Last updated: 15-Aug-06 16:57 BST