LAGOS, Nigeria — The armed militia marched unstopped through Nigeria’s largest city, firing shotguns and rifles in the air in what they called a protest against a radical Muslim sect responsible for killings across the oil-rich country.

The demonstration Thursday by members of the Oodua People’s Congress highlighted the growing sense of insecurity and widening distrust among Nigeria’s more than 160 million people and its major ethnic groups. Men armed with shotguns, rifles and machetes freely roamed the streets of Lagos without a sign of police, while passers-by shouted that their region of Nigeria should be protected — rather than the country as a whole.

“We don’t want them to fight here in our Lagos because Lagos is for everybody, not for Yoruba alone, but for everybody,” said Chief Orebiyi Ebenezer, a militia leader. “We need peace here in Lagos.”

The Oodua People’s Congress is a militia made up of Nigeria’s Yoruba ethnic group, which dominates the country’s southwest. The party takes its name from Oduduwa, the ancestor of the Yoruba race, and formed after military ruler Ibrahim Babangida annulled a presidential election in 1993 that many believe a wealthy Yoruba businessman won.

The group evolved into a quasi-political organization and likely receives the implicit support of major politicians in the region, though its members have been implicated in political violence and thuggery. Rumors abound in Nigeria’s southwest that the group maintains a stockpile of firearms in a country where those weapons are strictly regulated by law, if not practice.

Those rumors appeared true as about 100 armed members riding in minibuses and marching by foot came into Lagos on Thursday, home to 15 million people. They fired long rifles and locally made shotguns into the air, unstopped by police as they ended up at Teslim Balogun Stadium, which hosted FIFA’s Under-17 World Cup in 2009.

Leke Akintayo, a militia leader, said their protest was a show of force against Boko Haram, a Muslim sect in Nigeria’s northeast that has killed at least 388 people this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria’s capital Abuja as part of its campaign for the implementation of strict Shariah law across the nation.

“We OPC, we still exist,” Akintayo said. “They should not fall (under) our hand. ,  This is our father’s land.”

He added: “We are going to retaliate if there is any bomb blast hitting any place. We are ready for them. Anytime, any moment.”

How the group would retaliate remains unclear, but Lagos remains a melting pot city for Nigeria’s more than 250 ethnic groups. At risk would be those belonging to the Hausa Fulani ethnic group, Muslims who dominate the country’s north.

Such ethnic-based violence remains all too common in Nigeria. Since the nation became a democracy in 1999, tens of thousands have died in communal violence that cuts across religious and ethnic lines, but often takes root in political or economic issues.

Different groups in Nigeria’s south have claimed they would fight Boko Haram if the government fails to stop the group, including militants in the country’s oil-rich and restive Niger Delta. However, Thursday’s march represented the first time a militia took the street armed to display and threaten using force to end the violence.

That threat mixed with theater at one point as one man holding a pump-action shotgun walked by journalists and said in Yoruba: “Should we shoot it for you?” He racked a shell into the shotgun and fired as he walked down the busy street filled with uniformed school children trying to get home.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/nigeria-militia-group-fires-rifles-walks-through-streets-of-commercial-city-as-security-flees/2011/12/08/gIQA4Pz0eO_story.html

Jesus, I find it amazing that a group can openly and brazenly walk around lagos of all places while brandishing guns and machetes to boot.

have these nigerian men now started bringing in rwandans to help them in their everlasting quest for whatever nonsense they're constantly searching for?


epe ko lo fe mo won bayi?

So, Yall just realizing that youve been fighting a Civil War the last 9-10 yrs? Wow. . . .

ONE NIGERIA!!!!!!!

The good news is we are in the digital age.

The chronicles of events and roles played by all will be well documented this time around.

There will be no convinient scapegoats!

thank God the world is listen. Thank you , Washington post. Here is where the issue is. The Nigeria govt and his people have hate against our people in their policy.


We all over the world have seen the satellite picture and the level of injustice against us.

what this picture means is that this small extracted area are claiming to be more populated than the bigger one.  even when we have video of this area. showing how the houses look like.

And the government of Jonathan Goodluck is not doing anything about it. because most of the politician are corrupt and they all never even won the election in the first place. they rigged the election. If you look at the satellite pictures.

So it is hard getting election riggers to make change.

here is the picture

if the fall of ghadaffi hasnt led to these groups being disbanded, then who exactly is funding them?

the west? the middle east? asia?




its so annoying to imagine one visiting nigeria only to meet this kind of public disturbance?

extremely aggravating i must say.

how can i get off a plane only to see gun and machete wielding touts walking the streets in broad daylight?

on top of the armed robberies, illegal toll points, etc etc which are a daily occurence back home?

seriously, ti nba sepe fawon min. . . . . . . . . . .

yall need Jesus because he's the only one who can deliver you.

Yessooooooooooooo, this is a sign of Civil War between the Yorubas and Hausa/Fulani.
Maybe, Hausa/Fulanis will defeat Yorubas, but am not sure.
Yorubas are ready to strike first if any Yorubas is kill again in the North.
i dey and see