As residents of Jos, Plateau State, count their losses, the police yesterday confirmed that 51 people have been arrested in the violence that broke out Sunday.
Commercial activities in the city were also affected following the shutdown of banks and shops.
Mayhem was unleashed on Jos after a disagreement between a Muslim and Christian in the Dutse-Uku Quarters of Nasarawa-Gwong, Jos North Local Government Area, with one claiming the other encroached on his land while rebuilding his devastated home.
Earlier reports said at least 20 people were killed but Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr. Yemi Ajayi, yesterday gave the official figure as 13 with 32 injured.
The official police number of 51 arrests was also at variance with what sources told THISDAY.
It was learnt that 80 people, some disguised as military men in uniforms, were arrested. On interrogation, some of them confessed to coming all the way from Katsina State to fight.
Investigations reveal some of them were miscreants heavily loaded with arms and ammunition. They are currently being detained at the police headquarters in Jos and the crisis has been contained.
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THISDAY gathered that the death toll has risen to 26, as six seriously injured persons who were rushed to the hospital on Sunday died in the early hours of yesterday.
"Apart from the additional Mobile police units sent to Jos, our officers and men are on ground to ensure that there is peace and tranquility," said Ajayi.
"Those arrested so far, will be thoroughly investigated and anyone found culpable would be made to face the music. The law is no respecter of any person," he added.
Meanwhile, the state government has condemned statements credited to some Muslim clerics in Abuja which called for the sack of Governor of the state, Jonah Jang.
They argued that such a call should not be made by religious leaders.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr Greg Yenlong, who made the government's position known added that the unfortunate incident where Christians were attacked in their places of worship proved that even the November 2008 crisis was not caused by the local government election as claimed by some residents of the state.
He said it was a premeditated attack aimed at discrediting the government of Jang.
But the Chief Imam of Jos central mosque, Sheik Balarabe Dawud, has appealed to the Muslim Ummah in Jos to be calm.
The Deputy speaker of the Plateau House of Assembly, Alhaji Ibrahim Baba Hassan, also called on youths to eschew acts of violence. Hassan who visited the affected areas yesterday said it is unfortunate that another violence broke out barely two months after the last one in November.
The Muslim community in Jos North disclosed that it lost 16 of its members even as the Red Cross confirmed that about 4,000 refugees are scattered in three refuge camps within the city.
In a press statement signed by M. S. Mudi on behalf of Jos North Muslim Ummah, over 150 women and children are in the Central Mosque with another 35 receiving treatments, as a result of the attack by "Christian youths"
Red Cross officials said they are in dire need of relief materials and vehicles to cater for the refugees squatting at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) camp, St. Michael Catholic Church and the Central Mosque, Auwal Maicibidis.
Also speaking, the man who was at the centre of the storm, Kabiru Mohammed, told newsmen that his house was burnt down in 2008.
He claimed that he brought in labourers to rebuild his home but some Christian youths stormed the site to prevent construction, saying the area is mainly for Christians.
According to him, the case was reported to soldiers in the area. When this was going on, one of the youths went to mobilize others to the scene telling them that some Hausa youths beat him to a state of coma.
The situation spiraled out of control when others invaded the area, he claimed.
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