Nigeria sets up probe into ethnic unrest in Lagos

LAGOS, Nigeria (Reuters) -- Authorities in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos set up a seven-member inquiry panel on Friday to investigate ethnic clashes which killed more than 100 people in the city.

The clashes in October in teeming districts of the metropolis of over 10 million people forced thousands of residents to flee their homes.

Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu said the panel should help the state to end the "gruesome and senseless killings of citizens under the guise of ethnicity."

"There is an urgent need to inquire and delve into the root of this cankerworm," Tinubu said at the inauguration of the panel.

The inquiry is headed by retired high court judge Victor Famakinwa and includes members drawn from Nigeria's three main ethnic groups.

Its terms of reference include determining the number and identities of casualties and the extent of damage to property. It has 30 days to submit its report.

The clashes were between the militant Oodua People's Congress (OPC) of the Yoruba ethnic group and Hausa-Fulanis from the largely Muslim north.

The OPC, linked to earlier violence in Lagos and other areas in southwestern Nigeria, has since been outlawed by the Nigerian government.

Many political analysts see the Lagos inquiry as a move to pre-empt any plans of reprisal attacks against Yorubas living in the north.

The Nigerian media has been carrying reports credited to northern leaders said to be demanding compensation and justice from Lagos authorities for attacks on their kinspeople.

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