20110128
reuters

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - A main governorship candidate for April elections in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno was shot dead on Friday after leaving a mosque in the city of Maiduguri, party officials and witnesses said on Friday.

Modu Fannami Gubio, the candidate for the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) which controls Borno state, was followed from the mosque by gunmen on motorbikes and shot as he and others got out of their jeep outside his home, witnesses said.

The younger brother of state governor Ali Modu Sheriff was also killed in the attack, witnesses said. Sheriff is close to the end of his second term as governor of Borno.

The attack bore the hallmarks of radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, which has carried out months of targeted killings in the remote northeastern region and has warned of revenge against the ANPP for its pledges to tighten security in the state.

Maiduguri is seen as one of the main flashpoints ahead of presidential, parliamentary and state governorship elections in Africa's most populous nation in three months' time and party officials feared the killings could lead to further unrest.