NIGERIA: At least five people have died in a religious riot in the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi, while the death toll from a weekend of sectarian violence in two other northern cities has climbed to at least 28.
Though the triggers were different, several religious leaders said the violence was rooted in uncertainty over the political future - specifically, a rumoured ambition by President Olusegun Obasanjo to stand for a third term in 2007.
The fighting in Bauchi yesterday was sparked by an argument over the Koran, in Maiduguri it started with protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and in Katsina it was about a planned public hearing on constitutional reform.
The Red Cross put the death toll in Maiduguri and Katsina at 28, but the Christian Association of Nigeria said it had counted at least 50 bodies in Maiduguri alone.
"The country is tense because everybody has been fed with the rumour of a third term and no one has come out to deny or confirm the rumour," said Abdulkadir Orire, secretary general of Jama'atu Nasril Islam, Nigeria's largest Muslim organisation.
"That is why the bottled-up tension is now finding expression through these violent outbursts."
There is strong feeling against a third term across the north because many northerners feel the presidency should go to one of them in 2007 after eight years of Mr Obasanjo, who is from the south.
Mr Obasanjo has said he would uphold the constitution, which says a president can stay in office for just two terms, however some of his supporters are campaigning for a constitutional amendment that would allow him to stay on. He has not commented on that scenario.
Public hearings on constitutional reform are due to start in Katsina and other centres tomorrow. Opposition politicians said that was the cause of the weekend fighting there, which killed seven people, according to the Red Cross.
Nigeria's 140 million people are split about equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in the south, although sizeable religious minorities live in most cities.
Thousands have been killed in religious violence since 12 northern Nigerian states introduced Islamic Sharia law in 2000.
Sectarian fighting is often stoked by politicians seeking to bolster their own power bases. while violence in one part of the country often sparks reprisal killings elsewhere.