The secretary-general of the Yoruba militant group blamed for last week's bloody clashes in Lagos fled Nigeria to Togo on Monday amid a police crackdown on the group, the Odua People's Congress (OPC).
"I am now in Togo," OPC secretary-general Kayode Ogundamisi said by telephone from Lome. "I was prevented by security men from traveling to Europe on Saturday after seizing my passport and luggage."
He said that he managed to escape from the airport, taking advantage of his familiarity with the facility, having previously worked there.
Ogundamisi said he would soon leave Togo. "I will travel to Nairobi tonight ... and then from there to Holland," he said, giving no further details.
"I intend to mount an international campaign abroad against government attempts to annihilate OPC and its members," said Ogundamisi, a former student union activist.
The Nigerian government last week banned the OPC, accusing it of instigating the bloody clashes in Lagos that left more than 100 people dead, mostly ethnic Hausa.
The government ordered the arrest of the group's leaders for prosecution. Forty-two people, including OPC leader Frederic Fasheun, were charged with murder, illegal possession of arms and arson last Friday.
Some of them, but not Fasheun, were also charged with armed robbery.
They were later taken to Ikoyi prison in central Lagos until November 17 when another hearing in the case will take place.
The OPC was founded in 1995 to protect the interests of the Yoruba people who dominate southwestern Nigeria -- LAGOS (AFP)
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