Last weekend’s fighting in Wukari in Taraba State stemmed from a funeral procession row.

No fewer than 100 people were feared killed and several others injured in a violent clash between local Jukun tribesmen and Hausa youths on Friday, May 3, 2013 in the ancient city of Wukari in Taraba State of northeastern Nigeria, Thisday newspaper reported.

BBC quoted residents as saying the violence broke out as a funeral procession for a traditional chief, Abe Ashumate, who was the ‘Abon Ziken’ of Wukari, passed through a Moslem area. The funeral was being organised by the predominantly Christian Jukun ethnic group. As the mourners passed through the Moslem area, they began chanting slogans that angered the residents, setting off the crisis. The Jukun ethnic group is in dispute with the Moslem Hausa-Fulani group over who the original inhabitants of the town are and who has the right to own land.

The Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Joseph Kwali, said 39 people were killed, 30 others injured and 22 houses burnt in the fighting. He confirmed the arrest of 40 suspects, insisting that normalcy would soon return with the coming into effect of the 24-hour curfew declared by the State Government. Thisday reported yesterday, May 5, 2013 that over 100 houses were set ablaze by the warring groups who reportedly engaged each other with guns and other dangerous weapons. The crisis also led to the massive destruction of worship centres and property worth millions of Naira, reports said.

The Guardian newspaper of Nigeria quoted a police source as confirming that over 100 people were killed and more than 60 houses burnt down. The crisis started barely 48 hours after the inauguration of a judicial committee by Taraba State Acting Governor, Garba Umar, to ascertain the causes of the February 23, 2013 religious crisis in Ibi and Wukari Councils following a football dispute.