In Nigeria, members of an Islamic Sect who believed by their ideology that the western education is a sin have clashed seriously with the Nigerian Police. An estimated number of over 300 people both the sect members and the police were said to have been killed in the clashes.
The Northern Nigeria is predominantly Muslim population comprising of nineteen states. So far, the clashes affected four states. They are Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Yobe states.
Full blown violence erupted between the members of the sect led by Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf the aforementioned states from Sunday evening through yesterday Monday in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital before escalating to the neighbouring states. The police engaged them when they started busting police barracks, prison gates, and razed vehicles.
Nigeria’s President, Umaru Yar’Adua reacted in Abuja by ordering the security agencies to take full charge of operations in the four states where the sad and shocking attacks occurred.
In his directive, the President said “No effort should be spared in identifying, arresting and prosecuting leaders and members of the extremist sects involved in the attacks.”
Security is to be beefed up in all neighbouring states and security personnel placed on full alert to ensure the attacks by the sect members do not spread elsewhere beside the clashes that happened already.
He therefore said, he deeply regrets the unnecessary loss of lives occasioned by the wanton and unprovoked attacks on the police and other innocent Nigerians in the affected states.
The crisis started in neighouring Bauchi on Sunday, where at least 200 members of the sect were reported dead. Earlier this year in the same state Bauchi in February, a clash occurred between Muslim and Christian communities which left four persons dead.
As reprisal for the incident in Bauchi on Sunday, the Muhammed Yusuf-led sect on Monday attacked the police headquarters barracks in Maiduguri, killed an officer, and set ablaze eight residential blocks. The group proceeded to the new prison complex and used bombs and other explosive devices to break in and set the inmates loose.
Following the clashes in Maiduguri, Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, ordered a dusk to dawn curfew in the city.
The curfew was ensued after the joint military/police security team had opened fire on the hoodlums, killing several.
They shouted ,,Allahu Akbar,, as they did.
A Police Area Commander, in-charge of Potiskum town in Yobe state, M.A. Mustapha, said the suspects are indigenes of the town and that when they visited their houses most of their wives confessed to them that the men did not pass the night at home.
In Kano, residents were gripped by anxiety following confrontation between the police and fanatical Muslim sect in Wudil, in which three people were killed and several others wounded.
The police said the agitation of the Kano group is similar to that of the Bauchi fundamentalists, corroborated by their leader, Abdulmimuni Ibrahim Mohammed, who was arrested along with dozens of his surrogates.
The timeline of the crisis is as follows: Thursday 11 June, 17 members of the sect shot and wounded by security men for alleged refusal to wear a crash helmets. This followed the reprisal attach threatened to undertake by the sect leader on Sunday 14 June.
Subsequently, on Thursday 21 July, nine members of the sect were arrested and paraded on Friday 24, by over suspicion of possession of 74 empty homemade shells and explosive devices. Same night, a locally made bomb exploded in the residence of another follower, Hassan Sani Badami from Biu town in Borno state blasting him to death while his friend sustained severe injuries.
On Sunday 26 July, followers of Ustaz Mohammed launched an attack in Bauchi, leaving more than 50 persons most of the supporters of the group dead.
While on Monday July 27, sect violence spread to Borno, Knao and Yobe states, leaving over 300 dead.