The Police said yesterday that they had arrested 20 suspects in connection with the sectarian crisis which erupted in Bauchi on Monday.
Mr Emmanuel Ojukwu, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police Force, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja while speakign with journalists.
The crisis broke out at about 10 a.m. at Zango area of Bauchi Local Government Area of the state, due to a disagreement between leaders of a religious sect.
Ojukwu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, said that nine out of the suspects were adults and 11, minors.
He said that some members of the sect invited security agencies to the scene.
“The leader of the group revolted against the intervention and in the process, there was loss of lives.
“In the police reaction to the event, 38 people were found dead, 14 injured and 16 rescued from captivity,” Ojukwu said.
He also said that four houses were burnt and weapons and offensive materials were recovered from the scene.
“Right now, normalcy has returned to Bauchi, there is no more threat to life and property.
“People are going about their lawful businesses without any fear of molestation,” the PPRO said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bauchi chapter, Bishop Musa Tula on Tuesday called on Christians and other people of the state to remain calm and ensure peace.
Tula, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bauchi, said that all adherents of religions must live in peace with one another for the development of the state.
The chairman, who was reacting to last Monday’s violence which claimed the lives of 38 persons, including a soldier, described the incident as unfortunate, especially now that the year was running to an end.
Tula, who commended the prompt response of security agents which led to the timely containment of the violence, appealed to the people of the state to consolidate on the feat and go about their normal activities.
“As we enter another year, let us have our mind set for new things after these incidents in 2009; let us expect a change of attitude in 2010.”
Meanwhile, calm is gradually returning to Bauchi.
Security forces were deployed in full around the city yesterday to forestall a repeat of the violence. Police have arrested 20 suspected sect members and recovered what has been referred to as ‘sophisticated’ weapons from the group.
Yan Kala Kato, also known as Maitatsine, is a radical Islamic sect which exists in several parts of the north. Thousands of people were killed in religious uprisings instigated by the group in 1980 in Kano and in Yola in 1992.
A human rights activist in Kaduna, Shehu Sani, says the latest violence resulted from a battle for leadership within the Islamic sect.
“The recent violence is a continuation of violent activities of sect leaders in the north. This violence was religiously motivated, and it is about the quest for supremacy between factional leaders of the remnants of the religious sect that are in Bauchi,” Sani said.
Sani blames the “failure of leadership” for the religious violence in northern Nigeria.
“For the past 30 years, there have been over 85 cases of religious violence in the northern part of Nigeria. And it is clearly that there is a failure of leadership in the past three decades, which has created a vacuum for people to find answers to their problems within the realm of Islamic fundamentalism. And poverty, illiteracy and ignorance in the region have given fundamentalists a favourable atmosphere for them to get their converts and adherents,” Sani said.