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The move to end the violence is controversial
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Both houses of Nigeria's parliament have approved the state of emergency
in the central state of Plateau declared by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The president ordered the measure to control continuing violence between the state's Muslims
and Christians.
Several opposition politicians have already condemned the move as undemocratic.
President Obasanjo said serious action was needed to deal with a situation that he called "near
mutual-genocide".
Earlier the newly appointed governor of Plateau, Chris Ali, made a call for peace in the troubled
state, warning that if Nigerians wanted to see where hatred and intolerance could lead, they should consider what
happened in Rwanda.
Violence
Hundreds of Muslims were killed by Christian militants in the town of Yelwa earlier this month.
In February, 49 Christians were killed in a church.
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 Democracy has been assaulted - dictatorship has been restored 
Femi Falana
Human rights lawyer
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Reports suggest ethnic and religious fighting is continuing there.
An eyewitness told the BBC's Anna Borzello she had met scores of villagers fleeing ethnic violence
south of Shendam in Plateau State.
The displaced people said they were Christians who had been attacked earlier that morning by
Muslims from the Hausa-Falani ethnic group.
They said the attackers burned four villages and killed a number of people.
This reported violence occurred just hours before the president announced the state of emergency.
'Sad day'
Christians have reacted angrily to the president's statement.
Speaking for the Christian Association of Nigeria, the head of the Anglican church, the Most
Reverend Peter Akinola, demanded a state of emergency also be imposed on Kano State in which Christians had recently
been killed.
"Kano... has pursued with fervour the plan to exterminate non-Muslims at the slightest opportunity,"
he said in a statement.
"We believe that what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander."
At the National Assembly in the capital Abuja, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi of Lagos State, also
condemned the decision.
He told reporters: "This is a sad day for democracy. It's a day we should hang our heads,
not celebrate."
This sentiment was echoed by leading Nigerian human rights lawyer and long-standing critic of
President Obasanjo, Femi Falana.
"Nigeria has gone to the dogs," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"Democracy has been assaulted. Dictatorship has been restored."
Mr Falana also described the president's suspension of state governor Joshua Dariye as "unacceptable"
and "illegal".
Muslim groups in Plateau State had accused Mr Dariye of telling "non-indigenes" - which
correspondents say means Muslims - to leave the state.
Mr Dariye, who is from Mr Obasanjo's People's Democratic Party, will be replaced by retired General
Chris Ali for at least six months.
Peace
But the member of Nigeria's House of Representatives for Wase - a town in Plateau State - welcomed
the move.
"I feel on top of the world," Ibrahim Bello Yero told the BBC's Jamillah Tangaza in
Abuja.
Soldiers were sent to Kano - and were accused of killing civilians
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"My people will now have peace," he said.
An Islamic group, the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, complained that the decision had
come too late for the Muslim massacre victims, but nevertheless also praised the move.
"For the first time there has been an attempt to do the right thing about sectarian violence
in this country," the body's Secretary general, Nafi'u Baba Ahmed, told AFP news agency.
Christian Tarok farmers and Muslim Hausa-Fulani cattle-herders have frequently clashed over access
to land and thousands have fled their homes.
Relations between Christians and Muslims are often tense in Nigeria, where the 130 million population
are roughly equally split between the two religions.
At least 10,000 people have died in communal clashes since military rule ended in 1999, when
Mr Obasanjo was elected.
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