A judicial panel of inquiry will be set up next week to investigate recent ethnic bloody clashes in Lagos in which more than 100 people were killed, state-run radio said Thursday.
The composition of the panel will have a "national outlook," in accordance with a directive by President Olusegun Obasanjo, the radio said.
The membership of the panel is yet to be made public.
More than 100 people were killed last week when a militant ethnic group clashed with Hausas in the district of Ajegunle, the most notorious slum in Nigeria.
According to the Nigerian Red Cross Society, 14,127 people sought refuge from the clashes in four camps created in military barracks in Ajegunle and Apapa, the districts most affected.
Authorities said the clashes were triggered by the Odua People's Congress (OPC), set up in 1995 to protect the interests of the Yoruba in southwest.
The leader and founder of the OPC, Frederic Fasheun, and 41 other suspected members of the group, were on Friday here charged with murder, illegal possession of arms and arson.
No pleas were taken from them and the magistrate court ordered their remand in prison custody until November 17 when their case will come up for hearing.
The government has banned the OPC and ordered the arrest and prosecution of its leaders.
Obasanjo promised late Wednesday to give a tough time to the OPC and other ethnic militia groups instigating bloody ethnic clashes across the country.
"Every organization that breeds violence cannot be tolerated in a civilized society ... it has to be dealt with," Obasanjo said over radio and television.
"The government will not take anymore of this ... no matter where it happens. Not anymore," the president warned -- LAGOS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
