Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu has told Hausa leaders in the metropolis that he will secure their lives and property and that the community in this largely Yoruba city could resume its commercial activities.
"Everyone should go back to their homes and go about their normal
business," Tinubu said in a television broadcast on Sunday. "We guarantee security of life and property."
Tinubu met with Hausa community leaders at the weekend in an attempt to stem the tide of hundreds of Hausa traders fleeing the city after last week's clashes with their Yoruba neighbours. At least 30 people are feared dead following two days of fighting between both communities beginning Thursday in the Ketu district of Lagos. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), a nationalist Yoruba interest group, for the troubles.
"Some fled to the north and some left for other parts of Lagos," a media source in Lagos told IRIN.
Up to a million Hausas live in Lagos, a city of some eight million.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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