A dusk to dawn curfew is in place in Wukari, Taraba state, a day after a violent clash left at least one person dead, injuring some more.

Residents are to stay indoors between 6pm and 6am daily, while security forces and the police patrol the streets, the Taraba state acting governor, Garba Umar, announced Sunday.

"The curfew and presence of security agents have greatly curtailed the situation and everywhere is calm now," the governor's spokesperson, Kefas Sule, told PREMIUM TIMES via telephone on Sunday.

However, he said gunshots were still heard in some areas, especially outside of Wukari Township.

A resident who spoke to us Sunday said the town was calm, but that the crisis had assumed a religious dimension.

"What is happening is actually a culmination of suppressed animosity between Muslim and Christian residents of the town and the crisis is simply one between adherents of the two religions" he said.

Clashes erupted on Saturday after a scuffle between youth groups.

Residents who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday said a young Hausa man, bearing a hunting gun early morning, was accosted by men playing football, resulting in a brief fight.

The gun was mistakenly fired, injuring one of the youth, a resident said.

The victim, reportedly from the Jukun tribe, later died from the injury, leading to fighting between the Hausa and Jukun communities in the town.

The resident said tension had already run high in Wukari between the two communities, following an incident that occurred last December in the nearby town of Ibbi, where some persons were reportedly killed and properties damaged before the military restored order.