No reports of violence involving the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in non-Yoruba areas, including the states of Abia and Cross River, nor of branches of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) other than in the states of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Kwara, Lagos, and Kogi, could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

However, there are reports from October and November 2000 of OPC activity in Ilorin, the capital city of the central state of Kwara (AFP 17 Oct. 2000; ibid. 13 Nov. 2000; PANA 18 Nov. 2000). Persons believed to have been OPC activists were involved in violence relating to an attempt to install a Yoruba chief in the city (ibid.; AFP 13 Nov. 2000). Months later, in July 2001, AFP reported that traditional chiefs in Ilorin vowed to resist attempts by the OPC "to impose a Yoruba leader on the town, long claimed by the group as belonging to the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria" (15 July 2001).

A 26 May 2000 Post Express article reported that communities of Cross River State, residing in Anambra State, were prepared "to resist any threat by Oodua People's Congress (OPC), the movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and such other ethnic militant groups that threaten the nascent democratic polity."

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Agence France Presse (AFP). 15 July 2001. "Nigeria: Vigilante Group, Traditional Chiefs in Row Over Control of City." (FBIS-AFR-2001-0715 15 July 2001/WNC)

_____. 13 November 2000. "Nigeria: Rearrested O'odua Congress Leader Questioned Over Ilorin Violence." (FBIS-AFR-2000-1114 14 Nov. 2000/WNC)

_____. 17 October 2000. "Nigeria: 18 Members of Oodua Militant Group Charged Over Unrest in Ilorin." (FBIS-AFR-2000-1017 17 Oct. 2000/WNC)

PANA. 18 November 2000. "Nigeria: Court Releases Yoruba Militant Group Leader." (FBIS-AFR-2000-1118 18 Nov. 2000/WNC)

Post Express [Lagos]. 26 May 2000. "Riverine Communities in C/River." http://www.postexpresswired.com [Accessed 23 Aug. 2001]

IRB databases

LEXIS-NEXIS

World News Connection (WNC)

Unsuccessful attempts to contact one non-documentary source

Internet sites including:

BBC News

The Guardian [Lagos].

New Nigerian [Kaduna].

Post Express [Lagos].

United Nations, Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN).

Vanguard [Apapa].