Nigerian VP's aides face terrorism charges - report

LAGOS, Feb 24 (Reuters) Nigeria has charged three close aides of the vice president with terrorism in the latest episode of a fierce power struggle between Atiku Abubakar and President Olusegun Obasanjo ahead of a landmark vote in April.

Abubakar is running for president on an opposition platform in Africa's top oil producer after he was forced out of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) on corruption charges.

In papers filed with an Abuja court, Abubakar's campaign manager Iyorchia Ayu, is accused of plotting with two others to cause unrest in the Niger Delta, using a militant group that has cut a fifth of Nigeria's oil output since last year.

Ayu is accused of giving 1.5 million naira (11,682 dollar) to Timi Frank and Paul Ofana to hire the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to cause insurrection in the delta, Africa's oil heartland, newspapers reported today.

The three are facing five charges of terrorism. The charges, which carry a death sentence, were committed in early February.

No date has been set for a court hearing, the newspapers said.

''Ayu ... provided the sum of one million, five hundred thousand naira to (Frank and Ofana) ... to recruit, mobilise and sponsor armed persons for the purpose of causing insurrection and carrying out acts of terrorism in the Niger Delta,'' the Vanguard newspaper reported, quoting the charges.

A spokesman said on February 2 the government had uncovered a plot by Abubakar to destabilise Nigeria, days after the vice president was reported as saying Abuja had approved 2 billion dollars for arms to quell the worsening insecurity in the delta region.

MEND, a faceless group which emerged in late 2005, says it is fighting for the people of the impoverished delta to gain control of oil revenues. It has also made political demands.

MEND launched a series of attacks on oil facilities and kidnappings of oil workers last February that cut more than 500,000 barrels per day of the world's sixth-biggest exporter's output.

Nigerians are due to elect their president, state governors and legislators in a vote that should mark the first transition from one elected government to another since independence from Britain 46 years ago.

But the bitter feud between Obasanjo and Abubakar has cast a shadow on preparations for the polls, with many critics saying the presidency's multi-pronged attempt to exclude Abubakar casts doubt on the credibility of the elections.

The vice president who is engaged in a complex judicial and political struggle against Obasanjo, accuses his enstranged boss of manipulating state bodies to scuttle his ambition.

The electoral authority has said Abubakar will not be on the ballot in April unless his legal battles are resolved by a court. The vice president insists the agency cannot bar him.

Critics say Obasanjo wants to disqualify Abubakar because he fears ruling party kingmakers, angered by his tactics at the primaries, could spring a surprise on him at polling day and vote for Abubakar, who is popular with many of the 36 state governors.

REUTERS SAM RAI2143