March 26: Today in Nigeria history, more than 80 people died from burn injuries as they were stealing petrol from a tanker lorry

• Ijaw militants battling soldiers in oil-rich Delta region called for cease-fire
• More than 80 people died from burn injuries as they were stealing petrol from a tanker lorry

According to Leo Tolstoy (Russian writer and philosopher), historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them.

We must be courageous and mindful of the lessons we have learnt from the past when we share our stories. We need to look back on the past in order to draw new conclusions and carefully record earlier events.

WITHIN NIGERIA have highlighted three noteworthy events that shaped on March 26 in this country’s history in an effort to increase awareness for educational and enlightenment purposes.

Ijaw militants battling soldiers in oil-rich Delta region called for cease-fire

On this day, 26th of March in 2003, Ijaw militants battling soldiers and tribal enemies in Nigeria’s oil rich delta region called for a cease-fire after state officials agreed to support their political demands.

Bello Oboko, president of the militant Federated Niger Delta Ijaw Communities, whose fighters have spent two weeks battling government troops and rival Itsekiris, said the governor of Delta State, James Ibori, agreed to help renegotiate electoral boundaries the Ijaws say favor their enemies.

At least 100 people, including 10 soldiers, have been killed in the fighting. Many witnesses say the toll is far higher. Twenty-five villages — 15 Itsekiri and 10 Ijaw — have been heavily damaged or destroyed since fighting began March 12.

Two weeks of violence in the region has forced multinational oil companies to evacuate employees and cut exports by more than 800,000 barrels a day — or 40 percent of the country’s normal daily output.

ChevronTexaco closed nearly all of its operations while Shell and TotalFinaElf severely curtailed production. Nigeria is the world’s sixth-largest exporter and the fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports.

Villagers fleeing by the thousands fear a repeat of army massacres in 2001 and 1999 that killed hundreds. In both cases, Nigerian soldiers were retaliating for killings of members of the security forces.

Witnesses accuse the military of carrying out near-daily raids, with soldiers in boats firing light and heavy weapons on their villages in the marshes of the delta.

An army spokesman denied that the military was targeting civilians and blamed tribal fighting.

More than 80 people died from burn injuries as they were stealing petrol from a tanker lorry

On this day, 26th of March in 2007, more than 80 people were burned to death in northern Nigeria when a tanker lorry caught fire as they were scooping fuel from it.

According to police report, the accident happened in Kaduna state on Monday evening (local time).

“More than 70 people have been confirmed dead. There are some survivors but we don’t know exactly how many,” the spokesman said.

“The tanker turned over, the villagers came to scoop fuel and then the tanker caught fire”, he explained.

Yahaya said the tanker overturned while trying to park in the village of Katugal, some 150 kilometres south of the state capital Kaduna.

The federal road safety chief for Kaduna, Charles Okpabio, confirmed that there were survivors but declined to say how