At least six people were killed in clashes over the weekend in south-western Nigeria, police said on Monday, while several incidents of violence were also reported in the north in the run-up to the country’s controversial census.
President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for a headcount in Africa’s most populous country, the first since 1991, with estimates ranging from 120 million to 150 million — despite fierce opposition from various powerful vested interests.
”We counted at least six bodies, while several others were injured,” said a senior Nigerian police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity from the country’s south-western Ondo state.
He said clashes broke out between a Taribo-Ijaw tribal community and their Yoruba-speaking Irele neighbours after a plan by the country’s National Population Commission to merge the two groups for the census.
”Youths from Taribo-Ijaw rejected the merger and there was violence which resulted in several deaths,” the officer said, adding that the fighting had been contained.
Several incidents of violence were also reported in the north after census officials rioted near the city of Kano and neighbouring Katsina state over unhappiness with salaries.
Students vandalised a local council office and set the home of a local chief and three cars on fire late on Saturday in the small town of Ungogo, about 10km north of Kano.
In Katsina state, census officials had gone on a destructive spree on Friday, burning down a local council office after finding out they were getting less money than their counterparts elsewhere in the country.
As Nigeria gears up for the March 21 to March 25 census, tempers are high, and some fear they could reignite ethnic, regional and religious tensions that threaten to tear the country apart. — Sapa-AFP