By ISMAILA CHAFE

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed that his government would protect all religious and ethnic groups, whether majority or minority in line with its responsibility under the constitution.

Malam Garba Shehu, one of the President’s spokesmen, said in a statement on Sunday in Abuja that Buhari made the assertion while reacting to reports of breakout of violence in some parts of the country by some ethnic and sectional groups.

The president warned that the government would not allow any ethnic or religious group to fan the embers of hatred and violence against other groups.

He condemned such violence and gave the assurance that his government would act decisively to stop the spread of any such violence.

He appealed to religious and traditional leaders as well governors and other elected leaders across the country to join hands with the Federal Government to ensure that communities in their domain were not splintered along ethnic and other primordial lines.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that normalcy has since been restored to Shasha community in Ibadan, where traders at the popular market in the area had clashed on Thursday and Friday. (NAN)