Ile Ife crisis: Afenifere knocks police over sectional arrest of suspects

THE Pan Yoruba Socio Political group, Afenifere, on Tuesday accused the leadership of the Police in the country of being sectional in its approach to the crisis that erupted in Ile Ife, Osun state, between the Yoruba and Hausa Fulani ethnic group.

The group who stated this at the end of its monthly meeting in Akure, Ondo state capital, frowned over the dehumanisation of Yoruba elements in the crisis, saying those arrested by the police over the crisis have been ridiculed, harassed and coerced while there was no single Hausa Fulani among those arrested and paraded at Abuja.

Reading the communiqué of the group after its meeting, the Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, also condemned the movement of the arrested Yoruba suspects to the Federal Capital territory, Abuja, without any fair hearing, while the incident happened in Osun state.

Odumakin said “We condemn unequivocally the attempts being made by the police high command to intimidate, harass, coerce, ridicule and dehumanized Yoruba elements in Ile Ife, who have been called suspects and who were arrested at Ile Ife.

“They were transported from Ile Ife to Abuja and paraded on Television screen by the police as criminals and pronouncing them as guilty without any fair hearing. Nigeria is still operating Federal system of government and despite an entity call Osun state in the constitution and office of the Attorney General of the state is given defined constitutional sections under section 211 of Nigeria constitution to initiate, commence, and discontinue criminal proceedings, and he is the chief law officer of the state, the people were moved to Abuja.

Speaking on the crisis, he said “It is on record that a feud occurs between the indigenous people of Ile Ife and some Hausa Fulani who have also been residing in the town for quite some time now, which led to loss of lives on both sides.

“Afenifere regrets the incident and expressed its sympathy and empathy to the families and relations of all those who lost their lives, irrespective of their tribes or ethnic affiliations.”

But the group maintained that ” the people already paraded tried and convicted by the police at Abuja have not been arraigned before any court, beside this, there is police command in Osun state which ordinarily should have taken charge of the investigation and after investigation, the police in Osun state would forward its report to the office of the Prosecution office in Osun state for advise and possible prosecution if need be.

“Those that have been criminalized by the police have not committed any treasonable felony or accused of any financial crime to warrant the FG taking over the case and possible trial and eventual arraignment before the federal high court.

“The position of Afenifere is that the incident happened in Ile Ife in Osun state and it is only within Osun state that those arrested can be detained, investigated and prosecuted if need be.”

The group called on the Police authorities to desist from adding ethnic coloration to the crisis saying  ” Afenifere is not also unaware that even if a treasonable felony had been committed in Osun state, the police cannot charge the suspect outside the state, not particularly Abuja and above all, the police as a federal institution which belongs to all Nigerians should desist from adding any tribal or ethnic coloration to the unfortunate incident.

“This is the first time we are hearing across the world that two communities engaged in a fight and you are parading only meme re of a community and put them on trial

The police are behaving as if it’s a sectional organisation and not a national institution that dispense justice. Afenifere declared that we will not support any criminal, if any Yoruba is found to committed a crime in Ile Ife, he should be put on trial, but the Hausa should also be put on trail but we cannot accept that only the Yoruba people are guilty in this matter or are the only suspects.

“We are not supporting criminality, we are not subverting justice and we are not saying anybody that commits crime should not face the law and what the police have evaded in all these is that how on earth would you said two communities fought and you putting only a section on trail and the other section you have left untouched are from the area where the present leadership of the police hails from, and that’s what we are kicking against

“Therefore we are insisting that the police must be fair, must not be sectional, must obey the law and must work within the rule of law in terms of putting into trial those who participated the crime in Ile Ife.

The group also condemned the attitude of the federal government to the Fulani herdsmen in the country saying the federal government had failed to curb the menace of the Fulani herdsmen

Afenifere however said the body has constituted a seven man committee to assess the atrocities of the Fulani herdsmen in the south west region and threatened to report the Federal government to the international community if it fails to take the appropriate steps.

“The  Federal government has shown insufficient will in protecting the lives and properties of Nigerians as stipulated in the 1999 constitution, it should immediately and as a matter of urgency disarm all the herdsmen who are carrying arms and killing people all over the country and prosecute those who are found with guns.

“We are saying that the time has come for those who are doing cattle rearing business to go and have ranches where they would raise their cattle. They cannot continue to harass us, we are agrarian community in the south west and many of our people cannot farm again because Fulani herdsmen have taken over their farms, this cannot continue and must stop immediately”

“To show our seriousness on this matter, we have empowered a panel to go round all the communities in the south west where the herdsmen have been carrying out all kind of havocs to do an on the spot assessment, and compile reports which we will not be hesitate to take to international community’s if Nigeria government continue to prove that it is helpless or u willing to tame the criminal activities of these Fulani herdsmen” the group said.