Ibadan - A gun battle raged for hours on Thursday around a southern Nigeria state parliament, wounding five after gunmen opened fire on politicians.
Unidentified gunmen fired on legislators arrayed against the state governor as the group headed into the Oyo State legislature in the regional capital, Ibadan.
Police returned fire and the gun battle continued sporadically for three hours before security forces secured the building. Five people, including one member of the security forces, were wounded.
A political battle has been raging between lawmakers loyal to a senior lawmaker and supporters of his political foe, state governor Rashidi Ladoja.
Rioters also broke into Ladoja's office, looting papers and ransacking the quarters. Ladoja was absent at the time, but security forces spirited two of his deputies out of the building.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation of 130 million people, is riven by sectarian, religious and political differences. Various power struggles have broken out in the half-decade since brutal military rule ended and new democratic freedoms allowed Nigerians a greater political space.
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