At least 36 die in southwest militia clashes

At least 36 Nigerians died in clashes between an ethic militia group, Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), and security forces in the southwest on Saturday, police told IRIN on Monday. Over 12 cars were also destroyed.

The deaths came barely a week after an estimated 100 people died in communal clashes in Nasarawa State, central Nigeria, over ownership of a fish pond. Thousands of people were displaced and property destroyed.

According to police, OPC militants in a convoy of cars, arrived in Owo town, Ondo State early, and attacked the palace of a local traditional ruler, police said. The BBC reported on Monday, that the fight was over rights to the royal throne. The militants oppose the present chief Oba Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi, who was installed in 1998, and instead support a rival aspirant Taye Obajulaye.

“They were confronted by palace guards and local vigilantes and at least 25 people died in the shoot-out that followed,” the police told IRIN. Eleven people, the police source added, among the wounded who were taken to hospital later died, bringing the death toll to 36.

A spokesman for the OPC, Sunday Bankole, said in a statement their members were only passing through Owo, en route to Arrigidi-Akoko, the hometown of their leader Ganiyu Adams, to hold a rally. “We were just driving past the palace when we were attacked,” he said. State police commissioner, Paul Ochonu, dismissed the claims of the OPC, local media reported.

The OPC was set up to promote greater autonomy for the Yoruba people of south-western Nigeria. But since its creation in the mid-1990s it has been involved in a series of clashes in the region. The BBC reported that two years ago, the group was officially banned by the government following the OPC's involvement in riots in Lagos in which many hundreds died. But it has remained a popular force in many parts of the south-west.