Row threatens Nigerian alliance

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Two top candidates in Nigeria's presidential election have swapped public insults, casting doubt on the alliance between their two parties.

Former military leader Muhammadu Buhari says Vice-President Atiku Abubakar is ineligible to stand because of corruption allegations against him.

Mr Abubakar's spokesman says Mr Buhari is frustrated because he had failed to force the vice-president from the race.

Last year, the two men's parties formed an alliance against the ruling party.

Both men are northern Muslims and to some extent compete for the same voters.

Collapse

"Atiku has been finished as a candidate; he cannot participate [in the forthcoming elections]," Mr Buhari told a civil society delegation that visited him in Abuja.

Mr Abubakar strongly denies the allegations.

Mr Abubakar denies corruption allegationsMr Buhari's All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) and Mr Abubakar's Action Congress (AC) agreed last December not to run candidates against each other in an attempt to counter the formidable election machinery of the ruling People's Democratic Party.

But indications that the alliance may be headed for the rocks emerged shortly after when AC leader Bisi Akande said Mr Abubakar "wouldn't step down for Buhari."

Borno State Governor Ali Sheriff, a senior ANPP official, also predicted the collapse of the alliance recently.

"The truth is that it will not work," Mr Sheriff said, adding that the AC had hoped that the ANPP would not field a "credible" candidate for the election.

Many people in Nigeria believe that only a consolidated opposition stands a real chance of defeating the governing party at the polls in April.

Mr Abubakar fell out with President Olusegun Obasanjo after the vice-president openly condemned attempts by the president to change the country's constitution to give himself a third term in office.

The PDP suspended Mr Abubakar from its ranks following allegations of corruption against him.

Mr Abubakar defected to the opposition AC and was elected the party's presidential candidate.

The vice-president has himself been involved in a court case with President Obasanjo after attempts by the presidency to remove him from office when he joined the AC.

Mr Abubakar would lose his immunity from prosecution if he lost his post.