With our correspondent in Lagos, Liza Fabbian

A stench of decay hangs over the ruins of the Shasha market, on the outskirts of the city of Ibadan. On the slippery ground, there are tomatoes, decomposing onions, between piles of debris and charred metal scraps. Since Friday and throughout the weekend, members of the Hausa ethnicity armed with knives and firearms sowed chaos and destruction in the neighborhood, according to this young Yoruba man: "They burned everything. Even those who were our tenants attacked us because they were more numerous than us."

A dispute that escalates

It was a dispute between a Hausa laborer and a Yoruba merchant that escalated and ignited tensions according to witnesses, who also mention commercial competition between the two groups. Ibrahim Adelabu lost more than 50,000 euros worth of goods in this devastation: " I own 11 shops here, and houses. Absolutely everything burned and many people had to flee. "

At the entrance to the Shasha market, the residence of the Sarkin Sasa, a Hausa traditional chief, became a refuge in recent days, according to Haruna Yaro, his assistant: "Starting Friday, several thousand people found refuge here, mostly women. The governor came here Sunday and he gave the order to the military to escort these people, who left far from here."

Thugs from elsewhere

He claims that thugs from other neighborhoods participated in the looting of recent days that has damaged decades of coexistence between Yorubas from southern Nigeria and Hausas from the North.