CENSUS: 7 KILLED IN ONDO, EBONYI
By RAZAQ BAMIDELE, MARTINS NWANNE, Lagos, TUNDE RAHEEM, Akure, PETRUS OBI, Abakaliki, IBRAHIM BARDE, Kano and Akin Alofetekun, Minna
Monday March 20, 2006

Forty-eight hours to the commencement of national census, violence which erupted in the build-up to the exercise escalated over the weekend, with no fewer than seven persons killed and property destroyed.

Six of the victims died in a communal clash between the Ikale and Ijaw, in Ondo State, over boundary dispute, while one was shot dead by a police inspector trying to quell a protest by census officials demanding payment of their training allowances in Ohaukwu, country home of Ebonyi State Governor, Sam Egwu.

In Kano, the District Head of Ungogo Local Government, Alhaji Abdulkadir Ahmed Chedi, narrowly escaped being lynched by protesting enumerators, who burnt his palace and the council secretariat.
The latest incidences are coming on the heels of similar protests in Benin and Kastina, as well as threats by some enumerators to boycott the exercise.

The new developments are coming as state governors and top governments officials, including Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose and Executive Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, made last minute efforts to mobilise the populace for the success of the head-count.