“Early this morning a tanker loaded with petrol fell in Okogbe and people trooped to the scene obviously to scoop the spilled fuel and suddenly there was fire resulting in casualties”
More than 150 killed in Nigeria plane crash via the Guardian
A plane carrying about 150 people has crashed in a densely populated neighbourhood of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, killing everyone on board.
Thousands of people crowded around a smouldering two-story tin-roofed building into which the Dana Air flight from Abuja to Lagos had plunged.
“We heard a huge explosion, and at first we thought it was a gas canister…then there were some more explosions afterwards and everyone ran out. It was terrifying. There was confusion and shouting,” said Timothy Akinyela, 50, a local newspaper reporter who was watching a football match with friends in a bar near the crash site.
“I was on the roadside and I just heard a ‘boom’. As I came back, I saw the building of the police headquarters crashing down and I ran for my life.”
One local man, Andrew Samuel, described the scene of one blast, as co-ordinated attacks by Islamist militants in the northern Nigerian city of Kano on Friday killed at least 120 people. A 24-hour curfew is in place in Kano. (read more)
“We have the legitimate right to defend ourselves. We’re also saying today that we will do whatever it takes. We are working things out between ourselves.”
Ayo Oritsejafor, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria, told his followers that they should do what they have to in order to defend themselves from “ethnic and religious cleansing”.
The killing of dozens of Christians in recent days has raised fears of a wider religious conflict and ignited anger among Christian leaders, who have compared the attacks by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram to the run-up to the country’s 1960s civil war. (source)
“The first attack took place [on Thusday] night when four people were killed, and as people gathered this morning to discuss the matter and deliberate, gunmen suddenly appeared on the scene and started shooting and another 10 to 12 people were killed there.”
Hundreds of Christians have begun to flee northern Nigeria after attacks, thought to be linked to the radical Islamist group Boko Haram, left at least 33 people dead since Thursday Al Jazeera Correspondent, Ahmed Idris reports.
Nigeria’s government, which last week declared a state of emergency in four of the worst-hit areas, put into effect a 24-hour curfew on Saturday in the northeastern Adamawa state. (Read More)
Nigeria: A man covers his hands in crude oil during an anti-Shell protest after a spill at the Bonga oilfield. (EPA via Guardian)
Members of the emergency services work at the scene of an explosion at a police station after a suspected suicide bomber was killed and many vehicles were destroyed in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Thursday, June 16. A suicide bomber died in the incident and many vehicles were destroyed,” a spokesman for NEMA told Reuters. (Afolabi Sotunde)
Nigeria: A mosque was set on fire in Kano and the Red Cross said youths also torched churches and homes.(Reuters)
“I don’t want to accuse anybody but we believe that people must be behind this”
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the violence in the country that followed his re-election “was not a spontaneous reaction”. Poll runner-up Muhammadu Buhari denies instigating the “sad, unfortunate and totally unwarranted” events. (source)
Many killed in northern Nigeria unrest as president calls for calm
“There has been trouble in at least Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Adamawa, Niger and Jigawa. Churches, mosques and houses have been burned,” Red Cross official Umar Mairiga said.
“A lot of people have been killed but early reports are still coming in and we are not in a position to give a figure. All our volunteers are on standby so when the situation calms down they can be deployed,” he told Reuters.
Nigeria: Running battles in the Muslim northern city of Kano as Goodluck Jonathan nears victory in Nigeria’s presidential election. (Seyllou Diallo)
Nigeria’s Ethnic Divides
Nigeria’s 160 million people are divided between numerous ethno-linguistic groups and also along religious lines. Broadly, the Hausa-Fulani people based in the north are mostly Muslims. The Yorubas of the south-west are divided between Muslims and Christians, while the Igbos of the south-east and neghbouring groups are mostly Christian or animist. The Middle Belt is home to hundreds of groups with different beliefs, and around Jos there are frequent clashes between Hausa-speaking Muslims and Christian members of the Berom community.
Nigeria: A Nation Divided
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has won all elections since the end of military rule in 1999. It won two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states last time. To win at the first round, a candidate needs at least 25% of the vote in two-thirds of Nigeria’s 36 states.
“We have evidence in our hands that the computers (used in the voting process), were programmed to produce rigged results”
Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan’s main challenger, Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), has told Al Jazeera that the poll has been systemically rigged. Allegations of vote rigging led to street riots in various states on Monday, as results showed sharp divisions between the mainly Muslim north and the predominately Christian south. Read More
