14 Dec 2005 14:28:05 GMT

Source: Reuters

A feud between the Oyo governor and his estranged patron, both members of Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP), is fast degenerating as the rivals struggle for control of the PDP in the southwestern state ahead of elections in 2007.

The problem in Oyo is part of a wider pattern of ruthless jostling for position ahead of 2007, when all 36 states of Africa's most populous nation are due to elect their governors, who hold wide-ranging powers over state finances.

Police said Oyo lawmakers started fighting each other in the assembly on Tuesday after one faction tried to launch impeachment proceedings against Governor Rasheed Ladoja. Some lawmakers fired guns in the air to scare away their rivals.

Police used tear gas to stop the fighting.

"All hell was let loose before police restored order. Before then they wounded each other and one lawmaker was stabbed," a police spokesman said by telephone from Ibadan, the Oyo state capital and one of Nigeria's biggest cities.

The crisis in Oyo stems from a dispute between the governor and Lamidi Adedibu, his main sponsor or "godfather" in Nigerian political jargon.

Ladoja won the governorship in 2003 with Adedibu's backing, but the two fell out shortly after Ladoja assumed office and resisted some of his godfather's demands, according to observers in the state.

Adedibu has been trying to unseat Ladoja ever since and several people have died in clashes between their supporters in the last two years.

Political violence is not uncommon in Nigeria, which returned to civilian rule in 1999 after 15 years of military dictatorship. Paid thugs are frequently used to intimidate opponents or influence the outcome of elections.

President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose home state of Ogun neighbours Oyo, has tried to broker peace between the rivals but with little success.

Nigeria's ThisDay newspaper said 18 legislators loyal to Adedibu recalled the assembly, which has not sat since August due to the crisis in the state, to begin impeachment proceedings against the governor. They were stopped by 13 others in Ladoja's camp.

The crisis in Oyo is similar to that in southeastern Anambra state, where several people were killed and government buildings were destroyed in two days of rioting last year by militants demanding the removal of the state governor.