Posted by South African Broadcasting Company on
The wife of a senior Nigerian opposition figure was hacked to death in the early hours of this morning by suspected hired assassins, her sister said.
The wife of a senior Nigerian opposition figure was hacked to death in the early hours of this morning by suspected hired assassins, her sister said. The killing follows a growing wave of political instability in the oil exporting country as powerful factions in the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) jostle for positions ahead of elections in 2007.
Police arrested six watchmen at the house. They had no immediate comment on the allegation that hired killers were involved and said they would issue a statement later. Sadatu Abubakar Rimi was hacked to death in the living room of her house in the northern city of Kano.
She was the wife of former presidential aspirant Mohammed Abubakar Rimi, who recently left the PDP to oppose a third term for Olusegun Obasanjo, the Nigerian president. "We heard a bang on the door and on coming out we saw Hajia (Sadata) in a pool of blood and she was stone dead," her sister Halima told reporters at the house. "They just came to kill her," she added.
The victim's husband, who challenged Obasanjo for the ruling party ticket in 2003, was on a trip to nearby Kaduna at the time of the attack. The killers took nothing from the house, Halima said.
Tensions
Political tensions ahead of 2007 elections have grown steadily over the past few months, as Obasanjo has purged the PDP of rivals and undermined Atiku Abubakar, the vice-president, who wants to succeed him. Many Atiku allies, notably Abubakar Rimi, recently defected from the PDP to launch a new party known as the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy to campaign against a third term for Obasanjo, which is banned by the constitution.
Obasanjo has evaded the question of whether he intends to stand for a third term, but his supporters have launched a vociferous campaign for a constitutional amendment to allow him to do so.
Ruled by military dictators for most of its history since independence in 1960, Nigeria returned to civilian government in 1999 but rigging, organised thuggery and assassinations remain a feature of political life. - Reuters