Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, on Sunday, visited the troubled Shasa Community in Ibadan, Oyo State, where they appealed for calm and peaceful coexistence between the Hausa community and their Yoruba hosts.
The two governors who spoke at the Shasa Market and at the palace of the Baale of Shasa, urged the residents of the community and Oyo State, particularly the Yorubas and Hausas, to stop taking the law into their hands.
Speaking at the market, Governor Makinde promised to give palliatives to those whose wares were affected during the crisis, appealing to the two factions to eschew violence and allow peace to reign.
Makinde said: “Please, I want you to listen to me clearly. You cannot resort to self-help to solve the issue on the ground. All of you who are here are doing business with one another in one way or the other have been living together peacefully and all I am pleading to you is, no matter what is making anyone angry, we will solve it with patience.”
“I was reluctant to declare curfew here because I feel the economic wellbeing of everyone here is important, and because this is where you get what you use to feed yourselves. I will engage with your leaders this evening. One thing is, if you allow those who don’t have anything to lose here to blow this matter out of proportion, no one will be able to say where the crisis will end. By the grace of God, I pray we don’t lose any more lives,” the Governor stated.
He promised that the government would deal with the situation and ensure that the houses and shops burnt are rebuilt immediately, adding that no life should be needlessly lost anymore in the area and those who are hoodlums in the area would be dealt with but those who are law-abiding would be compensated for what they have lost.
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Similarly, Governor Akeredolu of Ondo State, said that he was in Oyo State on behalf of the South West Governors, as the Chairman, to appeal to the aggrieved parties to sheath their swords and allow peace to reign in the area.
Akeredolu noted: “We have been living together for a very long time and this is not the time to start fighting ourselves. So, let us consider that. There are some things that could be making us angry but don’t let us look at that because things cannot be like this forever. Though we are here in our fatherland, our own sons and daughters are in another person’s fatherland. So, let us think about this and continue to live in peace with one another.”
He urged the people of the community to always call the attention of security agencies to any issue that could cause crisis instead of taking the law into their hands, asking the residents to cooperate with Governor Makinde in ensuring that peace reigns in the state.
Zainab Sa’id
