Nigerian authorities said on Friday they have shuttered two universities after the latest outbreak of Christian-Muslim fighting in restive northern Nigeria, hoping to calm tensions after a student religious debate turned violent.
Fighting flared anew on Thursday when a student in the city of Bauchi shared Christian texts downloaded from the internet with Muslim pupils, and several people were injured in ensuing violence, witnesses said.
Bauchi state spokesperson Mohammed Abdullahi said no deaths were reported in the fighting. Two universities in the city were closed and students sent home to prevent an escalation of violence, the spokesperson said.
Residents reached by phone said many Christians are fleeing the predominantly Muslim city, 300km north of the capital, Abuja.
Religious animosities long suppressed by Nigeria’s iron-fisted military rulers exploded with the advent of democracy in 1999.
Since then, thousands are believed to have been killed in sporadic battles.
Tensions spiralled after 12 states in northern Nigeria adopted Islamic civil law, or Shariah, in 2000.
Africa’s most populous country of 126-million is almost evenly split between a mainly Muslim north and a south peopled largely by Christians and animists. In many communities, Muslims and Christians live side by side peacefully. — Sapa-AP