Lagos - Two of Nigeria's three political parties have agreed to field a common candidate for February 27th's presidential elections under the military's plan to restore civilian rule, party officials said yesterday. The left of centre Alliance for Democracy (AD) and right-wing All Peoples' Party (APP) were defeated in December local government elections by the centrist People's Democratic Party (PDP) which won about 60 per cent of seats in the vote. "It is not a fusion, it's an alliance," said Mr Tunji Adebiyi of AD, which won council seats in south-western Nigeria but performed poorly elsewhere. "We have decided to have a common candidate for the presidential elections, but we're still fine-tuning the process through which that candidate will emerge," he said.
Meanwhile, in London, police were called to the headquarters of Shell Oil after demonstrators barricaded themselves in the chairman's office. The protesters said they sneaked into the offices to show "solidarity with indigenous resistance to oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria".
Oil companies in the oil-rich Niger delta face opposition from the Ogoni rebels in southern Nigeria, which has led to disruption of oil production and clashes with government troops.