The Nigerian government said it had recalled the ambassador over Colonel Gaddafi's ''irresponsible utterances''.
''Our ambassador in Tripoli has been recalled for urgent consultations,'' a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ozo Nwobu, said.
Colonel Gaddafi's comments had ''diminished his status and credibility'', Mr Nwobu said, expressing the government's ''very serious concern'' and accusing Colonel Gaddafi of ''theatrics and grandstanding at every auspicious occasion''.
Colonel Gaddafi, until recently the chairman of the African Union, proposed in a speech to student leaders this week that Nigeria follow the partition model of Pakistan as a way of ending repeated bouts of inter-religious violence. Pakistan was formed in 1947 after the Muslim minority of predominantly Hindu India founded their own homeland.
Colonel Gaddafi suggested a Christian homeland in the south could have Lagos as its capital, and a Muslim homeland in the north could have Abuja as its principal city, while the two communities should agree to share Nigeria's oil and mineral wealth.
Hundreds of people were killed last week in the latest outbreak of sectarian violence in central Plateau State, the de facto buffer between the predominantly Muslim north and the largely Christian and animist south.
Nigeria's 140 million population is almost equally divided between Muslims and Christians.
The President of Nigeria's Senate, David Mark, said Colonel Gaddafi's comments were hardly worth dignifying with a response.
''With all due respect, why do you want to give a madman that level of publicity?'' Mr Mark was quoted as saying in Nigerian newspapers on Thursday.
Agence France-Presse
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