DATE=12/13/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=NIGERIA ATTACK (L-O)
NUMBER=2-257095
BYLINE=JOHN PITMAN
DATELINE=ABIDJAN
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The governor of Nigeria's largest city, Lagos,
narrowly escaped death Sunday, after his car was
ambushed by armed men. Lagos State Governor Bola
Tinubu (pron.: BO-la Ti-NOO-boo) was not hurt in the
incident. But as West Africa Correspondent John
Pitman reports four of the attackers were reportedly
killed by police.
TEXT: Governor Tinubu was returning home early Sunday
when the attack occurred.
According to reports in Lagos newspapers Mr. Tinubu's
convoy was stopped near the governor's mansion by a
group of mini-buses parked in the road.
The reports say the assailants attacked the governor's
police escort, before opening fire at his car,
riddling it with bullets.
Police officers returned fire, killing four of the
assailants. Mr. Tinubu escaped the attack unharmed,
and was taken to the residence, where he reportedly
summoned a meeting of his top security advisors.
The Lagos-based independent newspaper "The Guardian"
reports Mr. Tinubu was "shaken" by the attack. The
city's police commissioner, Mike Okiro, blamed the
Oodua People's Congress, a radical ethnic-Yoruba
separatist group.
A motive for the attack remains unclear, but the Oodua
People's Congress has been singled out recently for
instigating ethnic unrest in Lagos. The group opposes
Nigeria's federal system, and wants the southwestern
part of the country to secede and create a separate
Yoruba homeland.
Police say they are investigating a possible political
link, after arresting several of the group's members
near the scene of the attack. But police say they
also will investigate the possibility that Mr. Tinubu
was simply caught up in Lagos' worsening crime wave.
/// REST OPT ///
"The Guardian" newspaper says Mr. Tinubu was returning
to his residence near Tafawa Balewa Square after
conducting a late-night inspection of a special, rapid
reaction police force, and a city dump. (SIGNED)
NEB/JP/JWH/RAE
13-Dec-1999 09:17 AM EDT (13-Dec-1999 1417 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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