Opposition politician shot dead

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a leading opposition politician on Wednesday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Police said Marshal Harry, a member of the main opposition All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) was killed by assailants who broke into his home in the early hours of the morning. "We are still assessing the situation and will issue a statement soon," police spokesman Chris Olakpe told journalists. Harry, who is from Rivers State in Nigeria's southern oil-producing region, used to be a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He left the party last year after a bitter dispute with Rivers State Governor Peter Odili, also a PDP member, and then joined the ANPP. Harry subsequently became prominent in the campaign team of Muhammadu Buhari, the ANPP's presidential candidate and, like President Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler. Presidential elections due on 19 April will be the first since Obasanjo's election in 1999 ended more than 15 years of military rule in Nigeria. A rash of politically motivated killings across the country over the past year has heightened fears that violence could mar the polls. Such fears are also fuelled by the fact that, over the past four years, Nigeria has experienced its worst cycle of violence since a civil war in the late 1960s, with thousands of people dying in ethnic and religious clashes in various parts of the country. [ENDS]