UNKNOWN gunmen yesterday shot and killed the outspoken wife of a detained Nigerian presidential claimant, Chief Moshood Abiola, doctors said.
Ms Kudirat Abiola (44), the businesswoman who has been campaigning for the release of her husband, was shot with her driver and fatally wounded while driving along a Lagos street.
They were rushed to hospital where doctors fought unsuccessfully to save her life. The driver is in a critical condition.
"She didn't make it," said Dr Alex Eneli, one of the owners of the Eko Hospital where Ms Abiola was treated.
"She has a bullet wound in the forehead but there is no exit," her family doctor, Dr Ore Falomo, said earlier.
Pro democracy activists reacted angrily to the killing.
"This is a very bad omen for the nation," said Mr Shina Loremikan, a spokesman for the umbrella Campaign for Democracy pressure group. "We need an immediate return to democracy because the military regime with all its might still cannot guarantee the safety of life."
The South African Foreign Minister, Mr Alfred Nzo, called the attack horrifying and urged the military government to free Chief Abiola.
A British Foreign Office spokesman described the shooting as "tragic news".
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of about 100 million people, has been in crisis since June 1993 when a presidential election deemed to have been won by Chief Abiola, a millionaire businessman, was annulled by the then ruling generals.
Chief Abiola has been detained in the capital, Abuja, since June 1994 when he proclaimed himself president of Nigeria based on the results of the annulled poll. He is facing treason charges but the case has stalled on legal wranglings.
Ms Abiola was a prominent figure in the campaign to secure the release of her husband.
Rumours of her assassination swept Lagos, the centre of opposition to Nigeria's military government.
"Some hoodlums fired at their car," a police spokesman said.
Witnesses said the two were shot at close range by three men in a car.
The assassination of Ms Abiola comes a week before the third anniversary of the annulled poll.
Chief Abiola has several other wives and dozens of children.