Uniformed men shoot at Nigerian opposition senator

ABUJA, May 16 (Reuters) Men dressed in police and army uniforms shot at a senator opposed to rewriting the constitution to allow President Olusegun Obasanjo to hold onto power, the victim today said.

Senator Muktar Mohammed Aruwa of the opposition All Nigeria People's Party said in a letter read out on the Senate floor that four attackers ambushed him near his farm in the northern city of Kaduna on Sunday night and riddled his car with bullets.

He pointed the finger at those behind the campaign to give Obasanjo a third term, which is under debate in the Senate as an amendment to the 1999 constitution.

''The attempt on my life is no doubt a threat to frighten me to change my position by the desperate proponents of third term agenda,'' the letter said.

''My vote is still No to the third term.'' Three other senators who also oppose extending Obasanjo's tenure said they had received death threats.

Obasanjo's spokesman said the president had not publicly expressed any interest in a third term and rejected suggestions that he was behind the campaign.

''If people are making allegations they are not making them against the presidency and nor should they be. We are not killers.

Let them go to the police,'' said Femi Fani-Kayode.

Any amendment to Nigeria's 1999 charter requires a two-thirds majority in both houses, and more than one third of senators have already said they will vote against a third term, raising the prospect of a humiliating defeat for Obasanjo.

A former military ruler, he returned to power in 1999 elections that restored democracy to Africa's most populous nation after three decades of almost uninterrupted dictatorship.

Elections next year should mark the first time in Nigerian history that one civilian president hands over to another through elections, but the third term campaign has jeopardised that.

BENDING RULES? Obasanjo instructed his supporters to find a way for the bill to succeed in closed-door crisis talks with its architects last Thursday, National Assembly sources said.

The third term backers want to introduce secret voting, ban television coverage and lower the requirement to a simple majority in order to improve the amendment's chances of success, the sources added.

But in a special announcement to the Senate today, Senate President Ken Nnamani said only a rigorous application of the rules could resolve the constitutional crisis peacefully.

''We will follow due process because we want to ensure Nigeria survives this crisis,'' Nnamani said.

The Senate is due to move to clause-by-clause debate and voting later this week.

In the face of massive opposition across Africa's top oil producer, the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) has ordered its members to support the amendment.

But the party is split over the issue, and Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on Obasanjo to resign, accusing him of subverting the constitution against the will of the people.

The security services and presidency officials have become increasingly repressive towards opponents of the plan.

But the fraud squad has launched a probe into allegations that lawmakers have been bribed to support the amendment.

The United States has urged Obasanjo not to go ahead with the amendment, predicting major turmoil and conflict if it goes through.

Britain has said it would not accept the result of any amendment process that was not free and fair.

REUTERS DKS RN1757