Igbo/Hausa/Yoruba "Troubles" in Lagos: The Military Called In
Mobolaji E. Aluko
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Tuesday, October 17, 2000
Violence rocks Lagos
Governor imposes curfew
By Ben Akparanta, Lekan Sanni, Sylvester Ebhodaghe, Odita Sunday, Tunde
Alao and Esther Njoku
IT was mayhem of heart-shattering magnitude in Lagos yesterday, resulting
in a heavy human toll. Dead bodies littered the streets in Ajegunle, Ojoo,
Alaba Market, Orile and some other parts of the city.
At all the scenes of carnage, smoke billowed from burnt buildings and
vehicles. The trail of blood was long and winding across the affected
areas. Meaning: by last night, hardly would there be anybody not touched
directly or indirectly by the blood-letting. While police sources claimed
40 deaths in the bloodbath, some eyewitnesses expressed fears it might
have been much higher. Figures running into hundreds were even touted.
The state government subsequently imposed a curfew in the Ajeromi/Ifelodun
area of Lagos where the fighting raged the most.
Thick smoke billowed from houses in the Apapa area of the state while
several vehicles were torched in neighbouring streets, resulting in
another debilitating fuel crisis.
The Guardian learnt that the violence was ignited by the killing of a man
by an alleged Oodua Peoples' Congress (OPC) patrol team at about 11 p.m.
last Sunday. The man, accused of receiving stolen goods was pursued by the
vigilance team to a community in Ajegunle called Boundary.
Despite pleas from those who identified the man that he be spared, the
suspect was said to have been slain on the spot, thus flaring the tempers
of the community.
The OPC vigilance team was consequently attacked by the community, killing
a handful of the ethnic militants.
>From Boundary, the violence spread to Malu (now Mobil road) where houses
and property were razed.
When police took position at Mobil and Boundary earlier yesterday morning
the violence rebounded at other areas, namely Tolu, Trinity and the Marine
Beach.
Consequently, members of other ethnic groups became affected and were
inexorably drawn into the violence, either to protect themselves or avenge
the death of other persons dear to them.
Some residents claimed to have counted no fewer than 20 bodies at the
Marine Beach, where a fierce engagement lasted about four hours between
the warring factions.
An equally high number was allegedly counted at Malu road and pathways to
Kirikiri.
The buoyant spare parts market at Trinity in Ajegunle was shut to
customers.
Officials at the Lagos General Hospital said scores of the wounded from
the fighting had already been treated, but bodies were yet to be evacuated
to the mortuary.
At Ijora, vehicles of various types were set ablaze, while scores of
people were injured.
The mayhem also occurred at the Ojo-Alaba market where fierce fighting
lasted till around 3 p.m. when a team of policemen arrived to dislodge
them.
According to police sources, casualties were said to be evenly shared
among the three major tribal groups engaged in the fighting.
Uneasy calm however returned to the area early evening as plain-clothes
men of both the Lagos Police Command and the Zone Two comprising Lagos and
Ogun states moved in to arrest the hard-liners.
Lagos police spokesman, Mr. Victor Chilaka, an Assistant Superintendent of
Police (ASP) declined to give casualty figures of the disturbances. "What
caused it was the killing of two Hausa youths at about 7 p.m. at Tolu and
eventually the violence spread to Okorogbo," Mr. Chilaka said.
At least seven petrol tankers were torched by the warring groups at
Ijora-Badia. This resulted in a heavy traffic which lasted for hours as
motorists had to seek alternative routes to their destinations.
The popular Alaba-Suru Market in Orile on Apapa-Badagry expressway, was
not spared. Many shops were looted by some hoodlums who hijacked the
situation to perpetrate nefarious activities.
Charred bodies were seen in front of the Orile Divisional Police Station.
The bodies were said to be those victims who were killed or lynched and
were being gathered to be taken to a public.
The spontaneous spread of the clash also reached the Apapa Wharf area.
This was immediately put under control by full armed anti-riot policemen
drafted to the scene. But some vehicles had been burnt.
The Lagos Police Commissioner, Mr. Mike Okiro, also confirmed the
magnitude of the violence to The Guardian yesterday in his office.
According to him, some arrests had been made in an attempt to calm the
situation. "But I can not specifically say how many," he stated.
Many dane guns, knives and cutlasses, charms and other dangerous weapons
were recovered from some of the persons arrested and brought to the Ikeja
headquarters of the Lagos Police Command yesterday evening.
It was learnt that the over 20 persons arrested were subjected to
screening after which those cleared were allowed to go back home, while
those indicted were transferred to the State's Criminal Investigation
Department (SCID) for further investigation.
The Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has however invited the warring parties
for a meeting today.
Tinubu, speaking through his Information Commissioner, Mr. Dele Alake,
earlier in the day also said that the clash was not ethnically motivated.
Alake said that the state governor held a meeting with the State Police
Commissioner yesterday morning on the development after which mobile
policemen were drafted to the scene to maintain peace.
He said: "We are appealing to all warring groups in Ajegunle area to
sheathe their swords to allow ceasefire to reign and to allow peace in
that part of the state.
"For too many times, we have been having some disturbances, particularly
in Ajegunle area and this is a very unfortunate development. In spite of
all the efforts of the state government in ensuring that all groups
residing in Lagos had a sense of security and a sense of belonging,
occasional flashes around Ajegunle seem to detract from these objective."
The commissioner added: "And the governor is appealing to everybody, all
the Hausa community members of Ajegunle and all those who are said to be
OPC in Ajegunle should please allow peace to reign and allow the police to
do their work while investigation into the causes of the disturbances are
going on.
"I can assure you that the governor will not leave any stone unturned in
seeing to an enduring peace in the area.
"However, if there is no peace, if the warring groups refuse to sheathe
their sword, there may be a curfew imposed. But this is contingent on the
warring groups refusing to ceasefire," he said.
He said that the state government was determined to put in place measures
to ensure that such clashes did not occur in future.
The commissioner said that already, leaders of the Hausa and Yoruba
communities had been invited for a meeting with the governor today to find
a way of checkmating future occurrence.
Alake said that preliminary investigation revealed that the clash was
caused by disagreements between two people.
"The preliminary investigation has shown that the cause has nothing to do
with any ethnic configuration. It is not an ethnic conflict and should not
be so construed. It was primarily caused by an altercation between two
individuals and then others started joining.
It has nothing to do with any ethnic bias or ethnic prejudices. It is just
an unfortunate conflict between two individuals that became exaggerated
and other sympathisers on both sides joined in," he said.
The commissioner promised that the state government would continue to
ensure the protection of lives and property of all ethnic groups that
resides and work in Lagos.
However, seeing that the violence did not abate, Governor Bola Tinubu
later yesterday announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
A statement from the governor announcing the curfew read: "In view of the
unabating violence that ensued at Ajegunle and Apapa areas in spite of my
strong appeal to all aggrieved parties to the conflict today, and after
extensive consultations with the police and other security agencies in the
state, I hereby impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew solely on the affected Apapa
and Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government areas.
"The general public is hereby warned to stay indoors from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
henceforth for upwards of 48 hours in the first instance. This is to allow
room for tempers to cool down and for frayed nerves to be assuaged. This
curfew may be extended if the need arises but I hope not.
Once again, I appeal to all parties involved in the conflict to ceasefire
immediately for the sake of peace and the good of society."
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Tuesday, October 17, 2000
Three die in Igbo, Hausa clash
By Juwe Oluwafemi
THE timely intervention of the anti-riot mobile police force unit and
regular personnel reduced the level of carnage in a clash between the
Hausa and the Igbo in Alaba, a Lagos suburb, yesterday.
However, three people were feared dead.
Trouble allegedly started last Sunday evening following a discovery of
yet-to-be-identified headless body which was dumped at Alaba-Rago end of
Ojo on the outskirts of Lagos.
The suspected mutilated male body was believed to have been used for
ritual purposes as the head, finger nails, and the genital parts were
claimed to be missing on its discovery.
According to a female police officer at the PPL Police post who sought
anonymity, upon the discovery of the mutilated body by the Hausa community
at Alaba Rago Market, an intensive manhunt for the killers began, while
efforts to unravel his identity intensified. His appearance allegedly
fitted that of an Hausa man.
His supposed kinsmen claimed that they noticed blood stains and drippings
which they allegedly traced to a building close to the market.
The Hausas in the area, therefore, concluded that since the inhabitants of
the house were Igbo, they may have masterminded the evil.
They allegedly attacked the occupants. This culminated into violence
between the two ethnic groups. At the end, three persons were killed while
several others were wounded..
Later, the Hausa traders were alleged to have taken their offensive to
areas dominated by the Igbo.
The Igbo were said to have responded by launching series of attack on
areas inhabited by the Hausa. The area was thrown into chaos as traders at
Alaba International Electronics Market closed their shops while they
watched their wares.
However, as the two groups re-armed for fresh onslaught, the PPL Police
Post quickly intervened and saved the building of one Alhaji Ali Alaba q
an Hausa community leader, from being torched.
The police, led by the station officer, Inspector Segun Shogunro and
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), dispersed the crowd.
They allegedly turned their anger on the police and attempted to set its
post ablaze. A spontaneous response to distress calls by the two police
officers at the station saved it from being burnt.
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WIRE:10/17/2000 16:43:00 ET
Military to Join in Curbing Nigerian Clashes
LAGOS (Reuters) - Troops have been drafted in to help police contain
ethnic warfare around Nigeria"s commercial capital Lagos, where more than
100 people have been killed over the past two days. A senior police
officer told Reuters on Tuesday a joint military/police patrol of major
streets in the metropolis was approved at a meeting between security
chiefs and the Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu. "It will swing into
action very shortly," the officer said. But the move might trigger more
violence, given the opposition to the involvement of soldiers by one of
the factions involved in the unrest. "It is against democratic
principles," the leader of the militant Odua People"s Congress (OPC) said.
Red Cross workers and witnesses put the death toll in two days of fighting
at more than 100. Reuters journalists counted more than 25 bodies in the
streets of the port area of Apapa and in the teeming shantytowns of
Ajegunle and Alaba. Scorched cars, buses and buildings bore testimony to
the ferocity of the urban warfare that has overwhelmed the city"s
hard-pressed police force. Red Cross officials said more than 20,000
people, mainly Hausa-Fulani immigrants from northern Nigeria, had taken
refuge in army barracks around the city. Lagos, a sprawling city of more
than 10 million people, has been gripped by fighting between a militia
group of the Yoruba people who dominate the southwestern region, and
Muslim Hausa-Fulanis. Reinforcements of paramilitary police backed by
armored personnel carriers manned road blocks at strategic points in
Ajegunle and Alaba. Earlier, residents of Alaba fled in panic as fighting
raged. Two young men with blood streaming from head and body wounds
screamed for help in the street, but residents and traders fleeing for
their own safety paid little heed. Bodies, some headless, others burned
beyond recognition, were strewn around the main roads. "This situation is
terrible. We don"t have any regard for human life in this country any
more," said an electronics dealer whose shop had been torched.
SHADOW OF ETHNIC VIOLENCE
The fighting is the latest outbreak of ethnic violence that has dogged
Nigeria since military rule ended in 1999. The violence began on Sunday
night in the city"s Ijora district when members of the OPC attacked a
settlement populated mostly by Hausa-Fulanis. OPC members said they were
pursuing suspected criminals. Residents said skirmishes resumed in two
shantytowns soon after a curfew ended at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday. OPC gangs
are usually armed with primitive guns, machetes and clubs. Hausa-Fulanis,
far outnumbered by the militia, used bows and arrows and anything they
could lay their hands on. Bus drivers kept their headlamps lit and blared
their horns as a signal that they had no Hausa-Fulani passengers. Lagos
State Governor Bola Tinubu met leaders of Nigeria"s three main ethnic
groups -- the Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba -- on Tuesday. "We need dialogue among
the Yorubas, Ibos and Hausas because we are one in Nigeria," said Fatai
Aromire, a Yoruba traditional ruler. A communique issued at the end of the
meeting called for an end to the violence and for the setting up of an
inquiry into the clashes.
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