Following arrest and parade of 20 indigenes of Ile-Ife, who are being held for their alleged involvement in the recent clash between the Yoruba and Hausa communities in the town, more lawyers have moved to Abuja to beef up the legal team for the accused persons.
National Publicity Secretary of pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Mr Yinka Odumakin said that “the lawyers are already in Abuja and were also at the Force Headquarters, they have seen the suspects, they interacted with them and they are in high spirits.”
Also, Afenifere will hold an emergency meeting in the Akure home of the group’s leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, next Tuesday to discuss the Ile-Ife crisis in full.
This came as chairman, Association of Fulani Chiefs in the South West, Alhaji Muhammed Bambado, called for calm over the clash between the Yoruba and Hausa communities in Ile-Ife.
Bambado, who is also the Sarkin Fulani of Lagos State, however, maintained that the reason for the one-sided arrest and parade was best known to the Nigeria Police.
He said: “For those saying the arrest and parade is one-sided, let us leave that to the security agencies. They know what they have seen, they have done their investigation and they know the reason they picked the other tribe. It was not as if it was the Hausa/Fulani that arrested the other tribe. Let them do their job. The reason is best known to them.”
Calling for calm the Arewa leader said: “The crisis that happened in Ile Ife is unfortunate but there is more to the crisis. Before now, it was not like this, everybody lived in peace and unity.
“My message to the people of Ile Ife is for them to be calm and tolerant. We are all one family. The Hausa/Fulani community in Ile Ife has been in existence for decades and this should not be a reason for us to be divided. We need each other because we cannot do without one another. If there is a problem, it is imperative for us to resolve it within ourselves. We are bound to have problems, but I am appealing to the people of Ile Ife that we should move on and forget our grievances.”
Meanwhile, more reactions trailed the one-sided arrest and parade of 20 Ile-Ife indigenes as Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti called on the police to exercise caution in the handling of its investigation on the recent crisis in Ile-Ife saying; “It appears that the police has so far demonstrated ethnic bias in its investigation and this is not good for the unity of Nigeria and its people.”
Also, founder of Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, Dr Frederick Fasehun flayed the Federal Government’s handling of the clash in the ancient city of Ile Ilfe.
Condemning the killing of people and destruction of properties in Ile-Ife, governor Fayose said: “whether committed by Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa or any tribe, crime is crime and it must be treated as such. However, handling of crime must be without ethnic bias.”
The governor said it was strange that; “In a clash involving the people of Ile-Ife, who are Yoruba and Hausa, who are settlers in the ancient town, only Yoruba were arrested, taken to Abuja and paraded before the press.”
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, the governor said: “If there was a clash between Yoruba people and Hausa in Ile-Ife, are the police now saying that only the Yoruba took part in the crisis?
“Both Yoruba and Hausa were attacked. Properties belonging to both Yoruba and Hausa were destroyed. Are the police saying that those 20 Yoruba that they paraded in Abuja were the ones who attacked the Yoruba people that were also victims of the crisis and destroyed those houses belonging to the indigenes of Ile-Ife that were destroyed?
“In my opinion, the investigation so far conducted by the police was done with ethnic bias and I demand for thorough investigation that is devoid of ethnic sentiments.
“Also, to prevent re-currence of such crisis, I call on the Osun State Government to set up a judicial panel of inquiry to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the crisis, as well as identify the masterminds of the crisis.
“Most importantly, security agencies in the country must treat all crimes as the same, irrespective of those perpetrating them. As it appears, crimes committed by Fulani herdsmen against other Nigerians are not being treated as crimes that should be given attention by the security agencies and this is worrisome.”
On his part, Fasehun, in a statement, condemned the ethnic clash and called on the state government to immediately establish a commission of enquiry to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the crisis and fish out those behind it.
He said: “It was an insult to the Yoruba traditional institution that a monarch was hurriedly taken from his palace and paraded alongside the suspects, with all of them hurriedly transported to Abuja.
“A profiling of those currently in police detention connoted a conspiracy between the Federal Government under a Fulani President and the Inspector-General of Police, who is also Hausa-Fulani to perpetrate an unjust clampdown on Yoruba people in the area.”
The statement argued that: “Police and the Federal Government appear determined to make scapegoats of Yoruba living in Ife over this crisis. It is unfortunate, strange and insensitive that two people are fighting and authorities are arresting only one party in this unfortunate mayhem.
“We sympathise with all victims and casualties over this moment of madness that has eroded two centuries of harmonious cohabitation between the Hausa settlers and their Yoruba hosts. But we demand equal treatment of everyone involved on both sides of this crisis.”
Calling on the police to fish out all those behind the arson and the killings, the OPC leader said: “What of Yoruba people killed in Ife, will you not bring their apparent Hausa killers to book? What of Yoruba-owned houses and businesses that were burnt and looted, will you not bring their arsonists and looters to justice? Or are you telling the world that Yoruba people killed their own people and burnt down their own houses?”
He said: “The Federal government must do justice, and be seen to have done justice, to both sides. But so far, this perfunctory display of injustice is not a feature of true democracy. We hereby call on the Federal Government to intervene within the next 48 hours to ensure that justice is institutionalised and no side is provoked to defend justice according to its whims and caprices.”
Meanwhile, some Yoruba elders in the South West zone of the country have called on all traditional rulers in the zone not to remain docile while Hausa-Fulani intensify their alleged treachery against Yoruba over the Ile-Ife mayhem.
Making the call yesterday, Atayese Federalist Movement led by Mr. Tokunbo Ajasin, wondered why no single Yoruba monarch has waded into the crisis since it started.
Ajasin said: “The accounts and reports of mutual slaughtering, gory and primitive sadism on the 8th of March at Sabo, Ile Ife are warnings on the dangerous possibilities of a tinder slowly burning under Nigerian house. The question today, the matter of greatest concern at Atayese is whether governments at both Abuja and Osogbo indeed all over Nigeria understand and fully grasp the existence of a brewing and boiling volcano under and in our political space.
“For now, Yoruba has no leader. But, as time goes on, situations like this would force us to have a leader who can stand for us in the face of trying period. Those who have ears should hear this. I can say that the attack on Yoruba was a premeditated one. As soon as the crisis started, Hausa came out with guns, cutlasses and other weapons and started shooting. They (Hausa) were sent to parts of the South West to cause problem. They were in Sagamu, Lagos, Ogun and now Osun. It is a pity that the present ruling class is a cohort of Hausa-Fulani. You can wonder why not even a governor from the South West except Aregbesola made any comments. There would be peace provided they do not provoke us beyond limits", he warned.
In the same vein, the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone II, Kayode Aderanti, yesterday, held a security meeting with ethnic leaders in Sagamu, Ogun State in a proactive move to forestall a reprisal attack between Yoruba and Hausa people.
The AIG, who addressed ethnic leaders in Sagamu, said he chose Sagamu as the meeting’s venue due to the cosmopolitan nature of the area which he said houses different nationalities in the country.
Aderanti had held a brief meeting with members of Remo traditional Council, urging them to step into any fiction among the people in the area before it escalates.
He said: “We in Zone II, one of our policies is to be proactive. We are here to meet all the ethnic leaders. We believe that without peace, there may not be development. Sagamu has the largest different ethnic groups in the country. We want everyone to live in peace, we want you to live as brothers and sisters. It is in our own national security interest to live in peace. There is nothing government can do when there is anarchy. I urge all the leaders in this community to ensure people live in peace and harmony.”
Vanguard