Nigeria

Youth storm mosque in Jos

Article published on the 2008-12-01 Latest update 2008-12-01 17:57 TU

Election posters in Jos.
(Photo: Reuters)

Two thousand young people stormed a mosque in the still tense city of Jos on Monday, ending a short period of calm after post-election riots killed at least 200 on Friday and Saturday.

The youth shouted slogans and called for the removal of Plateau state governor Jonah Jang and his government before parliamentary speaker Dimeji Bankole intervened, calling for calm.

“As a government, as leaders that you have chosen, we will do our own to make sure that the people who did this are properly dealt with,” Bankole said. “You must allow us to do it, cause that is the job you’ve given us.”

 

The youth then left the mosque peacefully, and it was cordoned off by security forces.

More than 3000 police and military reinforcements flooded into the city Monday, enforcing a night time curfew across the city, and a 24 hour curfew in some of the harder-hit neighbourhoods, military officials said.

The plateau state government announced that 200 people have died in the clashes that erupted following local state elections on Friday, but other sources have given higher numbers.

The Red Cross told the French Press Agency AFP that “well over 300 people were killed, while Khaled Abubakar, an imam at the central mosque, as well as other Muslim officials spoke of 400 bodies at the mosque, the AFP reported.