Nigerian police yesterday arrested 20 protesters against the military ruler, Gen Sani Abacha, in Lagos while in the capital, Abuja, hundreds of thousands rallied to support him.
Witnesses said police fired teargas and arrested 20 of the few dozen marchers, including Mr Olisa Agbakoba, whose United Action for Democracy (UAD) had called the Lagos march to counteract the huge rally in the Abuja to press Gen Abacha to transform himself into a civilian president.
The coalition of pro-Abacha groups in Abuja said they had set up loudspeakers with the power to generate more than one million watts of sound to direct their message towards the Aso Rock presidential villa where Gen Abacha spends most of his time.
'Abacha is synonymous with Nigeria's progress,' said Mr Gbazuagu Gbazuagu, of the United Nigeria Congress Party, Nigeria's biggest political party and one of four to support calls for Gen Abacha to stand in elections. Only one party is against.
The question of whether Gen Abacha (54), who seized power in 1993, will stand in elections he has decreed for August dominates politics in Africa's most populous nation of more than 104 million people.
Suspicions that the campaign has official backing have been heightened by the participation of many government agencies to ensure the two-day 'two million man' rally in Abuja is a success.
'By now it must be visible to the blind and audible to the deaf that . Abacha is interested in continuing as first citizen,' wrote the Lagos-based Punch newspaper.
After strikes that paralysed Nigeria in 1994, opposition to military rule has diminished with the arrest or flight into exile of many leaders and a growing sense of apathy in the face of severe economic hardship.
The Commonwealth which suspended Nigeria in 1995 for the execution of nine minority rights activists, yesterday said Nigeria had to restore genuine democracy this year or face sanctions from April.