LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — 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.

m.yahoo.com/w/news_america/armed-nigeria-militia-marches-largest-city-165946988.html?orig_host_hdr=news.yahoo.com&.intl=us&.lang=en-us&fb_action_ids=295303463841287%2C307231569299543&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_source=other_multiline