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March 24, 2006
Nigeria census officials attacked
Nigerian census officials have been attacked in the south-east, where Biafran separatists want people to boycott the first census for 15 years.
A female enumerator in Enugu city was beaten up and her car burnt and another in Onitsha had acid poured over her.
Earlier, four census officials in rural Enugu State were hacked with machetes.
The banned Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (Massob) say they do not want to be party to a national project.
The Igbos in the south-east fought to break away from the rest of Nigeria during a three-year civil war that ended in 1970.
The headcount is sensitive across the country, as funding and political representation depend on the results but questions of religion and ethnicity have been left out.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country but estimates of its population range from 120 to 150 million.
'Terrible experience'
"They beat me and kicked me all over. When I shouted for help they brought a pistol and threatened to shoot me," census official Florence Ogbuehi told reporters in Enugu about the incident that took place at a primary school on Wednesday.
Massob had warned people not to participate in the census, her attackers said.
They later asked her to open her car, removed some jewellery and then burnt it with the census material inside.
"It was terrible experience," she said.
On Tuesday, in neighbouring Anambra State, enumerator Felicia Nwachukwu told the BBC that she and her colleagues were attacked as they were going house-to-house in Onitsha.
Three young men rode up on motorbikes and then set upon them with machetes.
Ms Nwachukwu said she ran away and was pursued into a compound, from where she was dragged out by her assailant who poured acid on her back.
She has received medical treatment for burns.
On the same day, four male enumerators were attacked in Ubahu Owo village in Enugu State with men carrying machetes.
The BBC's Chukwujama Eze in Enugu says two of the victims, who are being treated at a hospital in the city, have cuts and wounds to their heads, chests and bodies.
The area's divisional police officer confirmed the incident, but said no arrests had been made as the incident was being investigated.
Although the controversial questions about ethnicity and religion have been removed, other key questions include:
-Education background
-Occupation
-Income
-Size of house
-Type of water supply
-Toilet facilities
-Type of fuel used
-Access to radio, television, telephone
Nigeria's Civil Liberties Organisation has deployed some 42,000 people to monitor the enumerators and ensure everything is above board.
Only the last two days of the census have been declared national public holidays, even though people have been urged to stay at home until they are counted.
Posted by Publisher at March 24, 2006 04:34 PM
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