KANO (AFP) – Thirty-nine people died and 30 were injured in fierce fighting between Christian and Muslim mobs in Taraba state on Friday, prompting a round-the-clock curfew, police said.

Scores of houses were set ablaze and destroyed during the clashes in the town of Wukari which come amid a surge in religious violence in the west African nation.

“We have so far compiled a death toll of 39 people while 30 others were seriously injured,” state police spokesman Joseph Kwaji told AFP on Saturday.

Local residents told AFP that the death toll could rise.

“Thirty-two houses have also been destroyed in the violence,” Kwaji said of the unrest which has prompted authorities to impose an indefinite all-round curfew in the predominantly Christian city.

He added that 40 suspects were arrested in the aftermath of the violence.

State information commissioner Emmanuel Bello said that extra troops were deployed to the city on Saturday to bolster security.

“We have deployed more troops today to Wukari to ensure that the situation, which has been brought under control, is strengthened,” he told AFP.

The police spokesman Kwaji said Friday’s violence erupted when the funeral procession of a traditional chief from the predominantly Christian Jukun ethnic group marched through a Muslim neighbourhood chanting slogans, which Muslims viewed as an act of provocation.

“The state governor has imposed a 24-hour curfew on Wukari which is aimed at restoring normalcy in the town” after the fighting, said Kefas Sule, spokesman for the state governor.

Tensions have been on the rise in Wukari since February, when a dispute over the use of a football pitch between Muslim and Christian soccer teams set off sectarian riots that claimed several lives.

Friday’s violence came a day after the state government inaugurated a committee to investigate the February violence.

It also follows a surge in violence and kidnappings in the restive north of Nigeria, the epicentre of an insurgency by Boko Haram Islamists, in recent months.

In late April fighting between soldiers and Islamic fighters in the remote northeastern town of Baga left 187 dead, according to the Red Cross, in the deadliest episode since the insurgency began in 2009.

An area senator put the death toll from the attack at 228, but details remain murky about the clashes which also left nearly half the town destroyed after massive fires.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday released satellite images showing massive destruction in Baga, voicing concern that the military has “tried to cover up” abuses that should be investigated by the International Criminal Court.

The military has pushed back aggressively against these reports and fiercely denied claims that soldiers fired on civilians or deliberately torched scores of homes.

The global rights watchdog said the insurgency in north and central Nigeria by Boko Haram has claimed 3,600 lives since 2009, including killings by the security forces.

Nigeria’s former oil minister, Shettima Ali Monguno, 87, was kidnapped Friday by gunmen who stormed his vehicle outside a mosque in the restive city of Maiduguri, a stronghold of Boko Haram.

Government and security officials met late Friday in Maiduguri to discuss ways to effect his safe release, officials said.
Source:http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/39-die-in-taraba-religious-violence-police/
This country is sick,the earlier we agree to this fact the better for us. It is obvious that the problem Nigeria as a Nation face is to complicated to be solved through a declaration of a SNC. But it is important that we realize that the Nation Nigeria might be a thing of the past if the problems bedeviling us are not confronted and curtailed. If we keep playing this "one Nigeria political rigmaroling" that would be to our own peril.

Up "one Najiriya"!!!!

Do we have police force in Nigeria? What is the sole duty of the President? I thought to protect lives and properties. We really need an iron fist in Nigeria. The one we have only interested in divide and conquer.

What annoys me the most is the fact the things that fuel these sectarian and religious violence are trifles and things we should on a normal day treat with levity.

ONE NIGERIA!!!!!!

Nigeria is a sick country;a clear fact we can not dispute. If we keep whimpering and tautologizing this problem that we face without proffering ways this issues can be solved,then we are doomed.

Dospix: Nigeria is a sick country;a clear fact we can not dispute. If we keep whimpering and tautologizing this problem that we face without proffering ways this issues can be solved,then we are doomed.

Do you need any baba alawo to tell you we are doomed? then you need to wake up from your daydream.

automaticcarzz: Do we have police force in Nigeria? What is the sole duty of the President? I thought to protect lives and properties. We really need an iron fist in Nigeria. The one we have only interested in divide and conquer.

Nobody can fix Nigeria, it is a mistake and the only thing that can fix it is to break it.

..and this is a country some human-demons were pretending to be fighting for to be ONE when in actual sense they were profiting from our "ONENESS" Indeed, Ojukwu was a Political Prophet, he had seen it and said it all!

tomakint: ..and this is a country some human-demons were pretending to be fighting for to be ONE when in actual sense they were profiting from our "ONENESS" Indeed, Ojukwu was a Political Prophet, he had seen it and said it all!

If it were to be a country where truth is respected, Ojukwu will be on the new 5000 naira notes and his statue standing in every military barack. The man was a genius.

RIP to the dead!

Is high time all nothern leaders change the orientation of their wards toward love or else the north will disintegrate by 2015 most especially the north east. How on earth can civilised people who are sane be killing one another in this modern era? Are these people carnibals? God help them. They say what you sow is what you reap.

Too many deaths all around & until we see the need to go our separate ways this whole shit would go on.

Only deluded cowards and drooling sycophants will think there is an iota of unity in Nigeria. Nigeria is growing dysfunctional everyday while few nincompoops dwell in delusion of one-Nigeria.

automaticcarzz:


Ojukwu only had one thing in common with bin Laden which is cowardness. They both ran away from the battlefield when the bullets were flying. They led innocent lives to die for their selfish interest alone.

^^^You've got your reasoning a bit off-track on this one mate: those innocent lives were exterminated by the bullets, bombs and evil policies of your idols, gods and kinsmen. One may -with the benefit of hindsight- see how Ikemba could have done things a bit differently; but any mistakes he may have made were not borne out of malice and a calculated attempt to waste lives just to sustain a lie, which is more than we can say for the actions and intentions of the evil lot you so admire.

Dedetwo: Only deluded cowards and drooling sycophants will think there is an iota unity in Nigeria. Nigeria is growing dysfunctional everyday while few nincompoops dwell in delusion of one-Nigeria.

^^^The ones holding the torch for 'one Nigeria' are the few lucky elites (less than 5 million in number.....found in ALL regions/ethnicities) safely ensconced in their estates and mansions in Abuja, Lagos, and other regional capitals/cities; or they can be found safe in diaspora where they've gone for shopping/vacation, schooling, or business.

They are the ones that are 'chopping life' in the following jobs (or related to people in these jobs): 1) Politicians and their otimpkus 2) gov't contractors 3) aides and assistants to gov't officials 4) oyel workers (especially in NNPC ) 5) business owners that set up their business with stolen gov't funds, or funds acquired through an unholy alliance with gov't 6) oyel block owners and their aides/workers 7) past military heads of state and their aides/otimpkus, and finally 8') jobless political thugs and hired killers. The list is by no means complete; but for now these are the ones that readily come to mind......the 'one Nigeria as is' champions that would not like to see any adjustment to the status-quo.

IGBO-SON:


^^^The ones holding the torch for 'one Nigeria' are the few lucky elites (less than 5 million in number.....found in ALL regions/ethnicities) safely ensconced in their estates and mansions in Abuja, Lagos, and other regional capitals/cities; or they can be found safe in diaspora where they've gone for shopping/vacation, schooling, or business.

They are the ones that are 'chopping life' in the following jobs (or related to people in these jobs): 1) Politicians and their otimpkus 2) gov't contractors 3) aides and assistants to gov't officials 4) oyel workers (especially in NNPC ) 5) business owners that set up their business with stolen gov't funds, or funds acquired through an unholy alliance with gov't 6) oyel block owners and their aides/workers 7) past military heads of state and their aides/otimpkus, and finally 8') jobless political thugs and hired killers. The list is by no means complete; but for now these are the ones that readily come to mind......the 'one Nigeria as is' champions that would not like to see any adjustment to the status-quo.

And most importantly;the igbos that have landed properties outside igboland,yea that's the sad truth.

Hmm