The ruins of Shasha market, were still smoldering three days after deadly ethnic clashes

Ibadan, Nigeria, Feb 16 (AFP/APP): The ruins of Shasha market, in the southwest Nigerian city of Ibadan, were still smouldering three days after deadly ethnic clashes.

Trader Ibrahim Adelabu surveyed what was left of the business he had built. His one blessing was that his family had escaped unhurt. Soldiers patrolled the streets and an armoured personal carrier guarded the market entrance as Adelabu joined others, picking through the debris of houses and stores while residents wailed with grief nearby. “This place used to be my house and shops,” said the 51-year-old trader, an ethnic Yoruba, as he showed AFP the wreckage of his building reduced to rubble. “Where do you want me to start from now?

I lost 25 million naira (around $65,000). My joy is that my family escaped being lynched.” Tense calm returned on Monday to Ibadan, capital of southwest Oyo state, after the clashes between the Yoruba who dominate the region and traders from the Hausa community, who mainly hail from Nigeria’s north. Ethnic tensions are not uncommon in Africa’s most populous country, where more than 250 ethnic and linguistic groups live side by side and where some southern states see a federal government that favours the north. Yoruba and Hausa residents in Ibadan say the explosion of violence shocked many in a city where communities lived mostly in peace for decades.

Stay tuned to baaghi tv for latest news and updates!