Northern group begins self-defence training

A northern group calling itself the Arewa People's Congress (APC) has said it will begin full self-defence training for northern residents, the `Post Express' reported on Friday. APC spokesman Asaph Zadok said in Kano on Monday that the self- defence measure was in reaction to attacks on Hausas by the Oodua People's Congress (OPC), a Yoruba pressure group in the south. "Northerners are not only capable of protecting themselves, they are also capable of responding promptly and appropriately," Zadok was quoted as saying. He called on former Nigerian presidents such as Ibrahim Babangida and Shehu Shagari to help the group. Zadok said the OPC was taking advantage of the fact that the country's president was a Yoruba to secede from Nigeria with the connivance of Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba group.