Nigerian Senior's Mother Killed

Six men shot and killed the mother of a Harvard senior near her home in Lagos, Nigeria, yesterday.

Kudirat Abiola, 44, an outspoken critic of Nigeria's military regime and the wife of jailed opposition leader Moshood Abiola, was in her car when she and her driver were shot at close range.

Her doctor said she died about two hours later in the operating room at Eko Hospital.

One of Abiola's daughters, Hafsat O. Abiola '96, directs the Harvard Committee on Nigeria, a student group.

In an interview last month with The Crimson, Hafsat Abiola said her mother was a symbol of democracy in Nigeria.

She said she was disturbed by her mother's decision to stay in Nigeria after the military government charged her with publishing seditious material.

"It's very difficult to stand by and watch," Hafsat Abiola said. "But I understand what kind of ideas influence my mother's choices and my father's."

She said activists "pay a cost."

"Perhaps if I were in the same position I would make that choice, but I'm not sure," she said.

Hafsat Abiola was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Kudirat Abiola openly criticized the military government of Gen. Sani Abacha. Her husband, a millionaire who was widely believed to have won Nigeria's nullified 1993 presidential election, was jailed on a charge of treason in 1994 after trying to take office.

Hafsat Abiola said her father has suffered physical abuse and psychological torture during his imprisonment. The government has continued to delay his trial, she said, "because the fact is, they don't want him tried and found innocent."

Witnesses to yesterday's shooting said the six men fired on Kudirat Abiola's white Mercedes Benz yesterday. morning as she was returning from a visit to a neighboring city.

Witnesses said the car swerved off the road, and the men moved in to fire at close range.

The car's windshield and back window were shot out, the witnesses said. Police are searching for a gray Peugeot 505 that fled the scene, the Lagos state police command said.

Opposition politicians in Nigeria, expressing shock at the killings, suggested the government may have played a role in the shootings.

"They want to dominate us; but with the help of God, the will of the people will prevail," said Michael Ajasin, a 94-year-old opposition party leader.

Wahab Sosunmu, a former civilian minister and current opposition leader called Abiola's death "ominous."

But an official at Nigeria's New York Consulate denied yesterday afternoon that Abiola had been shot.

"There is nothing of such nature that has happened. If something had happened, we would know about it," said the official, who would not give her name.

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Glyn Davies called on the Nigerian government "to thoroughly investigate the crime, diligently pursue these killers and...ensure they're identified and duly prosecuted."

The British government yesterday called for Abacha's government to promptly and thoroughly investigate the killings.

In a magazine interview recently, Kudirat Abiola said she had been targeted with death threats and spoke of being followed by suspicious men.

She was detained briefly in May for allegedly publishing material critical of the Abacha government, according to her daughter, who said her mother had nothing to do with the publications.

The military regime has been under intense international pressure to release Moshood Abiola and scores of other political prisoners jailed since Abacha's November 1993 coup.

Pressure increased in November after the Nigerian government executed playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists from Ogoniland after convicting them of murder.

Soon after Saro-Wiwa's execution, Hafsat Abiola convinced the Undergraduate Council to pass a resolution calling for University divestment from Nigeria.

Some 500,000 Ogonis live in an oil-producing area that many say has been wrecked by pollution from the oil industry, which brings in 90 percent of Nigeria's export earnings.

Human rights groups have denounced Saro-Wiwa's trial as a sham that was meant to quiet Ogoni demands for compensation.

--Ariel R. Frank contributed to the reporting of this story, which was also compiled with material from Associated Press wire dispatches.

Witnesses said the car swerved off the road, and the men moved in to fire at close range.

The car's windshield and back window were shot out, the witnesses said. Police are searching for a gray Peugeot 505 that fled the scene, the Lagos state police command said.

Opposition politicians in Nigeria, expressing shock at the killings, suggested the government may have played a role in the shootings.

"They want to dominate us; but with the help of God, the will of the people will prevail," said Michael Ajasin, a 94-year-old opposition party leader.

Wahab Sosunmu, a former civilian minister and current opposition leader called Abiola's death "ominous."

But an official at Nigeria's New York Consulate denied yesterday afternoon that Abiola had been shot.

"There is nothing of such nature that has happened. If something had happened, we would know about it," said the official, who would not give her name.

In Washington, State Department spokesperson Glyn Davies called on the Nigerian government "to thoroughly investigate the crime, diligently pursue these killers and...ensure they're identified and duly prosecuted."

The British government yesterday called for Abacha's government to promptly and thoroughly investigate the killings.

In a magazine interview recently, Kudirat Abiola said she had been targeted with death threats and spoke of being followed by suspicious men.

She was detained briefly in May for allegedly publishing material critical of the Abacha government, according to her daughter, who said her mother had nothing to do with the publications.

The military regime has been under intense international pressure to release Moshood Abiola and scores of other political prisoners jailed since Abacha's November 1993 coup.

Pressure increased in November after the Nigerian government executed playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists from Ogoniland after convicting them of murder.

Soon after Saro-Wiwa's execution, Hafsat Abiola convinced the Undergraduate Council to pass a resolution calling for University divestment from Nigeria.

Some 500,000 Ogonis live in an oil-producing area that many say has been wrecked by pollution from the oil industry, which brings in 90 percent of Nigeria's export earnings.

Human rights groups have denounced Saro-Wiwa's trial as a sham that was meant to quiet Ogoni demands for compensation.

--Ariel R. Frank contributed to the reporting of this story, which was also compiled with material from Associated Press wire dispatches.