UNITED NATIONS, May 18 (UPI) -- Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's emergency action Tuesday on Plateau State, scene of deadly clashes where Christians attacked Muslims earlier this month, garnered mixed reactions.
The declaration of a state of emergency and the suspension of Plateau State Gov. Joshua Dariye came the day after police in the northern city of Kano were alleged to have fired into a crowd last week, attempting to quell rioting following Muslim attacks on Christians in reprisal for the May 2 Plateau attacks.
The police may have killed about 40 people, Human Rights Watch said, citing "credible local sources."
Nigeria researcher, Carina Tertsakian, of HRW, told United Press International, "It is an unprecedented action on the part of the government," referring to Obasanjo's action. "We would hope that this would signal, finally, some resolve on the part of the government to address the problem. But it's still the early days."
The BBC reported that while some welcomed Obasanjo's decision, feeling it was the only way to restore peace to the region, others expressed fears over the impact on democracy in the country.
Some Christians sought a similar action for Kano State in the North.
"Obviously, just declaring a state of emergency in itself is not necessarily going to solve the problem but we would hope that it signals at least a more serious attitude towards the violence in the area," Tertsakian said in a telephone interview from London. "It's a just a shame that it's taken so long and so many deaths before the government has really responded."
Obasanjo said in a televised address serious action was needed to deal with a situation, which he described as bordering on "mutual genocide."
The head of the Anglican Church, the Most Rev. Peter Akinola, speaking for the Christian Association of Nigeria, demanded a state of emergency also be imposed on Kano State where Christians had recently been killed.
Reprisals and repercussions are nothing new to Nigeria, whether in central Plateau State, just south and east of the capital of Abuja, or in northern Kano.
"That is a phenomenon that has occurred before in Nigeria," Tertsakian said. "Nobody yet knows exactly how many people were killed in Kano. The estimates have varied wildly.'
They ranged from 36 "right up to something like 600 that was quoted by the CAN," Tertsakian said. "I believe the truth lies in between. It seems likely that scores of people were killed in Kano, but to put an exact figure is not possible."
Several hundred people were killed in Yelwa attack, she said, quickly adding, "But, in the preceding months, hundreds of others have been killed in a number of attacks by both sides.
The violence in Plateau state started in 2001 "when there was an explosion of violence in Jos, a state capital," the researcher said. "In just one week about 1,000 were killed in Jos ... and hundreds have been killed since then. Again, nobody knows the exact figure. There hasn't been a systematic counting of victims. But those few figures will give an idea of the scale of it."
Nigeria's population of about 130 million is roughly divided in half between Christian and Muslim.
At the National Assembly in the capital Abuja, Sen. Tokunbo Afikuyomi of Lagos State, criticized the Obasanjo decision.
"This is a sad day for democracy. It's a day we should hang our heads, not celebrate," he told reporters.
Leading Nigerian human rights lawyer and long-standing critic of President Obasanjo, Femi Falana, echoed the sentiment.
"Nigeria has gone to the dogs," he told the BBC. "Democracy has been assaulted. Dictatorship has been restored."
Falana also described the president's suspension of Dariye as "unacceptable" and "illegal."
However, a member of Nigeria's House of Representatives for Wase - a town in Plateau State - welcomed the move.
"I feel on top of the world," Ibrahim Bello Yero told the BBC. "My people will now have peace."
Back up North, in Kano, HRW said police used excessive force to quell violence between Muslims and Christians and "may have committed dozens of unlawful killings" in the name of restoring law and order last week.
"Police fired into a crowd on May 13, killing around 40 people and wounding numerous others, according to credible local sources," HRW said in a release from its headquarters in New York posted on its Web site Tuesday.
"The police deployed to Kano were instructed to shoot on sight," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of HRW's Africa Division. "In this volatile situation, the police should be attempting to provide security, not kill more people."
Police reinforcements were sent to Kano after two days of rioting on May 11 and 12.
The attackers in Kano used a range of weapons -- including machetes, knives, daggers, arrows and stones -- as they targeted Christian residents of the city, HRW said. Witnesses reported that the assailants did not use firearms.
HRW said police officials confirmed in public statements that police shot a number of people, but claimed it was in self-defense.
