Ile-Ife crisis: IGP defends parade of Yoruba suspects

FOLLOWING outcry over the parade of 21 suspects of Yoruba extraction over the recent bloody ethnic clashes in Ile-Ife, Osun state, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, has insisted that ethnicity played no part in their arrest by the police.

The suspects were paraded in   Abuja this week, drawing criticism from Afenifere posited that the police were biased since they and other Yoruba leaders focused on Yorubas and leaving Hausas out.

But speaking to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, the police boss said only criminals were arrested in connection with the crisis.

Idris said he had come to brief the president on efforts to resolve the bloody clashes in Ile-Ife as well as the killings elsewhere in the country including Zaki Biam, Benue state.

He said: ”You know we are police officers, crime has no tribe if you are a criminal you are a criminal.

“Crime has no face. We don’t look at crime in the identity of where you are coming from. As far as you are a criminal and the police find you wanting, we apply the law.”

On why the crises could not be prevented, he said: ”Some of these crimes happen without any warning. If you look at that Ife crisis, it started just as disagreement between two people selling food along the road.

“So, you have to look at the dynamics of the country itself, obviously when you have such situation we have to react to it. We had to move in to ensure we provide some security to the people.”

Heavy security presence in Ile-Ife

However, when Saturday Tribune visited Sabo, in Ile-Ife, the epicentre of the crisis on Thursday, there were still heavy presence of security in an apparent move to sustain the restore peace and normalcy to the troubled area.

Fierce looking anti riot policemen were sighted manning Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) stationed at Lagere and Mayfair, which leads to Sabo and Ilare end end of the road, just as some traders were trying to clean the ruins and debris of burnt items.

One of the traders at Sabo market, who lost her shops to the incident, Mrs Adejoke Elufidiya said “I sells provisions, such as milk, different brands of tea, drinks and fruit juices. All of them are gone as my two shops were burnt during the fracas”.

According to her, “we never envisaged this kind of clash. We have been in harmonious relationship with the Hausas in this market for decades and there has never been any problem until the sad incident of Wednesday, which have ruined our businesses”.

“We are appealing to the government to help us. We have lost all we have to the crisis. Where do we start from now. Except government and other kind hearted Nigerians come to our aid, it will be very difficult to resuscitate our businesses again. We need urgent intervention from the government”, Elufidiya pleaded.

Another trader, Mr Tajudeen Akinola, who sells electrical appliances towards the end of Sabo market also implored Osun State government to work out measures aimed at ameliorating the losses incurred by both Yoruba and Hausa traders during the crisis.

He stated that “I cannot really estimate what I lost in concrete financial terms to the clash. But, I know that it cannot be less than N2million because I cannot evacuate anything when the enraged boys began to set all the shops along our line ablaze”.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police,  Mr Abubakar Idris has constituted a probe panel, headed by Commissioner in charge of Military Police at the force headquarters Abuja, Hammed Bello to investigate the cause of the communal clash.

The probe panel according to police source is to look into both immediate and remote causes of the communal clash and its finding would  be submitted to the police authorities for appropriate action  so as to prevent future occurrence of the incident.

Among groups that criticised what they termed sectional and biased approach to the incident were Afenifere, Ife Action Council and Ife Development Board (IDB).

According to the groups, the Police were biased and partial in arresting only Ife indigenes, leaving out Hausas, who they claimed were the cause of the scuffle, which snowballed into the violent clashes that culminated in the death of scores of people.

Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi and the Seriki Hausawa of Ife, Alhaji Mahmud Madagali canvassed for peaceful coexistence between the Hausas and Yoruba communities in Ile-Ife and its environs.

The trio described the crisis as unfortunate, saying no efforts would be spared to promote the diversity of the Nigerian nation.

The leader of the Hausa community, Alhaji Madagali, who spoke at the palace of the Ooni during a peace meeting, said some miscreants merely exploited what could have just passed as a mere disagreement between two people to breach the peace they had all enjoyed in Ife and Osun in its entirety.

Aregbesola while addressing residents of Ile-Ife at the Ooni’s palace shortly after his inspection tour of the areas where the incident occurred, promised to bring the perpetrators to justice.

He  expressed sadness over the incident, pointing out that “it is disheartening to experience such wanton destruction in Ile-Ife again, after the end of the tragic Ife/Modakeke war of fifteen years ago”.

In his remark,  the Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi described the incident as unfortunate, saying the crisis was instigated by the agents of darkness who always derived pleasure from wreaking havoc and unrest.

Describing members of the Hausa community  in Ile-Ife as his subjects, he said the cordiality between the two ethnic groups had been the source of relative peace being enjoyed in the town.

He said, “We are very grieved with what happened because our partners (Hausas) in Ile-Ife whom this violent attack affected are not strange to us. We know ourselves. We have been living together for years. We understand the pains they are going through in the course of this incident as we equally feel their agonies because we never thought this could happen in this town where we have been together for so many years.

Oba Ogunwusi stated, “I know all Hausas and they know me. Their leaders used to pay visits to the palace and we used to give them warmth reception each time they come but it is quite unfortunate that this happened.

“As part of the efforts to prevent this, when the incident occurred, I sent some chiefs to address the situation which was amicably resolved at the initial stage and we all thought it was over until we woke up the following morning (Wednesday) to hear that they had started attacking one another but I swiftly informed the security agencies and they responded promptly.”

In his remarks, the leader of Hausa Community (Sherik Hausa) in Ile-Ife, Alhaji Muhamud Madagali expressed disappointment over the incident, saying “we have been living peacefully in Yoruba communities for ages but not expecting such an attack”

He, therefore, appealed to the state government to provide adequate security for his people and as well support them in recovering their losses to the incident.

Similarly, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Ife Federal Constituency, Hon Abiodun Adeogun called on the warring groups to sheathe their sword and embrace peace for the development of the ancient city.