Abuja: The killing of a civilian by the police has sparked fears of sectarian and religious violence, prompting people to flee Nigeria`s southeastern Onitsha city officials said Thursday.
An officer suspected to be Hausa from Muslim north shot and killed a Christian of Ibo ethnic group who are predominant in the city, Police spokesman Emeka Chukwuemeka said. According to him, the policeman has been arrested for prosecution but an eyewitness told PTI on condition of anonymity that the Christian was driving a bus and refused to pay bribe to a policeman at a checkpoint who subsequently shot him dead.
"Ibo people gathered the Hausas at a place with the intention of killing them when the military arrived," she said, adding that she was not sure if anybody was killed before the arrival of the military men.
Another eyewitness said the bus driver killed had the symbol of a separatist group, Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and this infuriated members of the group who started dismantling every checkpoint in the commercial city.
According to him, this action frightened the northerners who started fleeing to military barracks fearing reprisal for the killings of northern-based radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram which has killed hundreds of people in recent times.
The 150-million Nigeria has both Muslim and Christian population, with Muslims predominant in the north while Christians mostly live in the South. PTI