Don’t chase Hausas out of town, group tells Fayose

The Action Group of the All Progressives Congress has described the plan by the Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, to chase the Hausa community in Ado Ekiti out of town and relocate them at the outskirt as a huge joke.

The group, through its spokesperson, Segun Dipe, was reacting to the alleged plan by Fayose to remove the Hausa community from their present abode at Atikankan in Ado Ekiti and settle them at Shasha, a farm suburb outside the town.

The APC Action Group said Fayose will be committing one of the worst violations of human rights if he should venture to carry out the rumoured threat.

Dipe said: “Our attention has been drawn to a threat by Gov Fayose to displace the Hausa community from their present abode in Ado Ekiti to Shasha, a settlement in the outskirt of the town.

“We are calling on the governor not to embark on such fundamental human rights abuse, but rather find a more meaningful way of settling whatever rift is between them and the indigenes.

“The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria permits every citizen to settle in any part of the country and forbids any government from displacing them.

“Ekiti is not an apartheid or a xenophobic enclave. Our people are very accommodating. Fayose should remember how we all fought against apartheid in South Africa and recently fought against the xenophobic attack in the same country. To bus the Hausas out of the town is unacceptable and condemnable. Fayose should allow the people, yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Egbira to leave in our midst as they have been doing without creating any rancour among them.

“They are not persona non grata, no matter how they got to settle in our midst. They have made their contributions to the economic and social well-being of the town and thus should be regarded as part of us.

“To displace them or take them to the outskirts to live for whatever reason is to treat them like lepers whose abode should be in the bush and this should not be condoned.

“If however it is a rumour, a joke or a mere threat, it is being taken to the extreme. But if it is the true intention of Gov Fayose, we will like to tell him to desist from doing so, for he will be violating their rights  and creating further angst in their mind.”