Riots kill 10 in Nigeria's largest city

Riots rocked Nigeria's largest city Wednesday, killing at least 10 people as protesters devastated over the death of the country's most prominent political prisoner clashed with police.

The family of Moshood Abiola, a potent symbol of reform for Nigeria's poor masses, refused to accept the official line that he died Tuesday of a heart attack.Meanwhile, the country's military ruler dissolved his Cabinet Wednesday. Gen. Abdulsalam Abu-ba-kar had inherited the Cabinet from his predecessor, dictator Gen. Sani Abacha, who died last month.

The Provisional Ruling Council, the core of Nigeria's ruling junta, was left intact.

Grief and anger swept across this West African nation - Africa's most populous - as news spread of Abiola's death.

In Lagos, thousands of youths and students staged tumultuous demonstrations along busy streets, setting tires on fire and throwing stones. Police used tear gas to disperse the crowds. The rioting appeared to be waning by midafternoon.

Schools were closed in Lagos state through Friday because of the violence.

Students in the southern university town of Ibadan also staged protests.

Col. Mohammed Marwa, the popular military administrator of Lagos state, appealed for calm in a radio broadcast Wednesday.

"Violence will not profit anyone," he said. "Only God knows why he has taken Abiola away at this crucial period of national reconciliation."

Abiola, who was reportedly to be released soon from four years of imprisonment, took ill Tuesday during a meeting with members of a U.S. delegation led by Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickering.

"Chief Abiola started talking with Undersecretary Pickering when he started feeling uncomfortable," said Jim Callahan, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria. "He was clearly in distress."

Before he began coughing and wheezing, Abiola had been drinking tea and chatting with Pickering, Callahan said in a telephone interview.

After becoming ill, the 60-year-old Abiola was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The government said he had died of a heart attack and promised a full autopsy.

Abiola, who grew up poor and later amassed a fortune in industries including publishing, shipping and oil, was an unlikely hero for Nigeria's nascent democracy movement.