Leaders of Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo residents in Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Monday met and admonished their people to prevent further ethnic clashes in the ancient city.
They spoke at a press conference organised by the Ife Progressive Forum/ Action Council on Monday in Ile-Ife.
The Seriki Hausawa of Ife, Alhaji Abubakar Madagali, who shed tears while speaking, alleged that there was no clash in Ile-Ife but an already planned attack on Hausa indigenes by Yoruba in the town.
The Sheriki explained that many of his kinsmen had their houses razed, properties damaged, while several of them were injured and some even lost their lives.
According to him, “The Hausa are peace lovers, the people that left are those that came here to seek greener pastures initially, not those that see this place as their homes. It is not a clash between us and the Yoruba. We were attacked, our houses were razed. We are highly devastated. There is no need to look for the root cause of the crisis again. All we want is peace.”
He, however, assured that his kinsmen would not retaliate, noting that they had taken the misfortune as an occurrence ordained by Allah (God) to happen.
“We believe that everything that happened to us has been ordained. We hope that this kind of incident will not happen again in Ile-Ife and Nigeria as a whole. Even when we travel (to the North) to visit our people, they ask us when are we going back home (Ile-Ife). We have been attacked but we are not going to retaliate,” he added.
On his part, President of Ife Progressive Forum/ Action Council, Lawrence Awowoyin, argued that the crisis was masterminded by hoodlums.
According to him, a committee had been set-up to look into the root cause of the crisis and find a lasting solution to it.
He clarified that the crisis had no political undertone, “but land matters between a Yoruba family and Hausa community.”
He said, “It is in view of the above, the entire citizenry of Ife-land wish to express our abhorrence of the unfortunate clash between certain individuals around Sabo area of Ile-Ife, which led to loss of lives and property. The love of Ife people towards all ethnic groups from time immemorial is not in doubt.
“The crisis was an offshoot of a misunderstanding between two individuals at Sabo area of Ile-Ife. The misunderstanding was unfortunately hijacked by hoodlums in the area.
“In view of this, the fracas did not emanate from Ife community but was masterminded by hoodlums from the two aggrieved individuals.”
He appealed to security agents to be fair and objective in handling the issues at hand so as not to aggravate the existing tension in Ife- Land.
“We condemn in its entirety any form of ethnic clash, militancy and insurgency anywhere in Nigeria. It is our position that we are all creatures of Almighty God, hence we are all citizens of the world and we abhor bloodletting in all ramifications.
“We sympathize with the victims from both sides. It is a known fact that both Yoruba and Arewa were victims of the fracas. We, therefore, condemn in strong terms the overzealousness of some security agents and the indiscriminate arrest of people regarding the crisis.”
On his part, Eze Ndigbo of Ifeland, His Highness Ezekeil Onyejekwe, appealed for peace to reign.
He said that the incident was unfortunate, adding that this was the first time such a violence would occur in Ife.
