Following last Friday’s clash between Yoruba and Hausa in Shasha community in Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State, the O’odua Peoples Congress has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the incident.
The tribal clash led to the death of a cobbler, Sakirundeen Adeola, while properties worth several millions were destroyed.
The OPC in a statement on Sunday by its Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin, expressed concern that a minor misunderstanding between a pregnant woman and an Hausa man later degenerated into a tribal crisis, leading to death and destruction of properties in the community.
The OPC spokesman lamented that such crisis could have been avoided, even as he maintained that Yoruba are a very peaceful and accommodating people.
Oguntimehin said: “It is unfortunate that a short misunderstanding between two traders eventually led to killing and destruction.
“Yoruba are every where in Nigeria, especially in the North, mostly in Kano and Kaduna, however, it is on record that no Yoruba native has ever instigated any crisis in the north.
“Therefore, I am using this opportunity to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate the circumstances surrounding the ugly incident, so as to bring the culprits to book and also forestall further crisis.”
Oguntimehin also expressed dismay at the report of a Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ile-Igbon Division, Surulere Local Government Area of Ogbomoso in Oyo State, Adepoju Ayodeji, shooting an operative of Amotekun for arresting Fulani herdsmen that allegedly destroyed a cassava farm.
He said: “The police officer should be made to face the music for shooting an Amotekun corp. No matter who was involved and the circumstances surrounding the incident, the police boss should be professional enough to know when to pull the trigger.
“It is a grave error of judgment for such a senior officer of the police to shoot an Amotekun corp knowing full well that the south west security outfit was backed by the law.
“So for a police officer to have shot such a corp is not only a disgrace to the police hierarchy, but a sad reminder of the systemic failure of an institution that is supposed to protect the citizens, maintain law and order, now becoming the law breaker and a threat to the peace of the society.”
While urging traditional institutions, political players and stakeholders in Yorubaland to take issues of security in the South West very serious, the OPC chieftain added that the region cannot afford to see it becoming vulnerable to kidnappers, bandits and criminal herders as it is in the North West, North East and North Central.
Oguntimehin said: “I think it is in our own interest to take security issues in our region so seriously. The governors across all the states in the South West should work together, using Amotekun as an outfit to rid the region of all criminals, both in the rural or urban area of the south west.”
Oguntimehin appealed to Nigerian politicians, irrespective of their different political affiliations, not to play politics with the spate of insecurity in the region, disclosing that the reports at his disposal indicated that in the last two months, politicians have been playing politics with security in the country.
Meanwhile, the Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, at the weekend ordered the immediate and indefinite closure of Shasha Market, following reports of wanton destruction and breach of peace in the area.
The governor had also approved the imposition of curfew in Shasha between 6pm and 7am.
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