Nigerian 'confesses' to minister's murder

Mr Ige's assassination rocked the country

Police hunting the killers of the Nigerian Justice Minister, Bola Ige, say a man has confessed to the assassination.

A senior police officer said a 28-year-old man had surrended himself for arrest, telling police he had been one of eight men hired to kill the minister.

"There was a man who came and reported that he killed Bola Ige," said Police Commissioner Mike Okuo of the south-western state of Oyo.

"He is in our custody."

He described the man as sane, coherent and filled with remorse - and the officer said police now have the names of the others involved in the plot.

Mr Ige was shot at his home in Ibadan, south-western Nigeria, last Sunday.

Nigerian senators were ordered to return from holiday a month early for an emergency meeting on Friday, to discuss security in the wake of the minister's assassination.

No clear motive for the killing has been established, but before his death, Mr Ige had become involved in a dispute between the Osun state governor and his deputy.

Reward

Police say seven people have been arrested in connection with Mr Ige's death.

This Day newspaper reported on Thursday that those detained included the Osun state ex-Commissioner, Kunle Alao, and Wale Adeseyan, a local politician.

Police have offered a 500,000 naira (about $4,200) reward - about 15 times the annual per capita income in the country - for information leading to the killers.

The Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) has issued a 21-day ultimatum to President Olusegun Obasanjo - saying that he must arrest the killers of Mr Ige or resign from office, This Day reported.

Mr Ige, who was 71, was an influential figure in the ethnic Yoruba community and a close friend of President Obasanjo.

President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered police to find the perpetrators

The Nigerian leader has described him as "a friend, patriot, colleague, nationalist and somebody who has worked closely with me in the last two and a half years".

A police spokesman said a team of 17 officers had been put on the case.

President Obasanjo said he had ordered the police to "fish out the perpetrators of this dastardly act".

Mr Ige's death has shocked Nigeria's political establishment.

The house was to have been in recess until 22 January.

Mr Ige represented a rival party to Mr Obasanjo's People's Democratic Party, but Mr Obasanjo made him power minister and later justice minister.

A dusk-to-dawn curfew is now in effect in the predominantly Yoruba south-western states of Osun and Oyo - where the president sent troops to restore order after the assassination.