At least three persons were reportedly killed yesterday, as fighting broke out between rival Islamic sects in Sokoto, Sokoto State.
According to a report on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) online the three persons were killed when fighting broke out between members of the Shia and Sunni Muslim groups at a spot close to the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, who is the president general of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).
The first salvo was said to have been launched by the Shia group, which reportedly attac-ked the Sunnis at a mosque.
The Shia attack was said to have been a reaction to the killing of a member of the sect by the Sunnis last week.
Majority of Sokoto's Muslim populations are said to be Sunnis while the Shias are a minority.
Sokoto, the seat of the Caliphate is the official headquaters of Islam in the country and has been very free from secterian violence which sometimes break out in some key cities in the Northern part of the country.
The last major disturbance in Sokoto was in the early 1990s when a successor was to be chosen to the father of the present Sultan, Alhaji Moham-madu Abubakar III. While a praise singer had announced the incumbent Sultan, Maccido as the choice of the kingmakers, the government eventually named Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki as the Sultan.
Violent protests greeted the announcement as people vandalised government properties including Radio Rima, the government-owned radio station which had earlier announced Maccido as Sultan-elect but later reversed itself.
Dasuki who reigned till 1996 was dethroned by the Abacha administration and Maccido was turbanned as the Sultan. Areas of the North which have experienced more religious riots are Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Jos.