The Oodua People’s Congress has issued the Federal Government and the Nigeria Police Force 48 hours ultimatum to arrest the Fulani/Hausa indigenes involved in the crisis in Ile-Ife, Osun State few days ago.The OPC gave the warning in a statement by its founder, Dr. Fredrick Fasehun, on Thursday.
Recall that bloody crisis erupted in the ancient town last week between Hausa settlers and Yoruba indigenes, leaving several persons dead and many injured.
Fasehun said the crisis erupted between the two ethnic groups and that everyone involved should be arrested and prosecuted.
The group said it was unfair that 20 Yoruba persons, including a monarch, were arrested and paraded by the police while not a single Hausa/Fulani belligerent was detained.
He said, “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. Various communities have Abraham as their father. A word is enough for the wise.
“The 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.”
The group questioned the role of a former Kano State governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso in the arrest of the 20 persons.
It said Kwankwaso stampeded Governor Rauf Argebesola of Osun State and the Commissioner of Police into the ‘senseless’ arrests.
“Kwankwanso’s post-violence role in Ife is akin to that played by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who in October 2000 travelled to Ibadan to challenge the late governor Lam Adesina over the reprisal on Fulani herdsmen who had unleashed an orgy of raping and killings on Yoruba farming communities.
“This kind of bias will only embolden belligerent Hausa-Fulani throughout Nigeria and give them pariah status amongst other nationalities,” the OPC warned.
“Where are those Hausa-Fulani who went on a killing spree in Southern Kaduna, Agatu and Chief Olu Falae’s farm? Are they untouchable? The Federal Government and the police should stop behaving as if Nigeria is the Hausa-Fulani’s conquered territory where they can kill and maim and rape at will,” the OPC said.