New Telegraph

Shasha: When the devil stole into town

Ethnic intolerance and mutual suspicion, coupled with display of impunity and breaching of the law of the land without any sense of compunction, have continued to fuel the ravaging spate of insecurity in Nigeria in general these few months.

The social menace which stemmed from killings, maiming, raping, kidnapping being perpetrated by many Fulani herdsmen against people of other tribes in the country, recently led to quit order given by a Yoruba freedom fighter and volunteer rights activist (Chief Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a. Sunday Igboho) to AlhajiSaliu Abdulkadir, the Seriki Fulani of Igangan Town in Oyo State. While eight exotic cars belonging to the Seriki and his houses in Igangan were set ablaze and some cattle allegedly killed by angry youths in the community, Hausas in general residing in Oyo communities have developedpentupangeragainsttheYorubas. This led to the killing last Thursday of a cobbler, SakirudeenAdeola, simplycalledKorex at Shasha Market along Ojoo-Moniya Road in the Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan in the State.

The ethnic intolerance and mutual suspicion between the Yorubas and Hausas in the area, reached a riotous head on that Thursday when an Hausa man splashed dirty water from a nylon he used to carry load of tomatoes onto a pregnant woman in front of her shop. The woman complained and the Hausa man engaged the pregnant woman in a fight. The cobbler intervened by challenging the Hausa man for fighting the Yoruba woman.

In return, the Hausa man hit the cobbler on the neck with a magical ring and he instantly unconsciously fell down. According to some eye witnesses, Korex startedfoaming in the mouth andhe was immediatelyrushedtoAmudallahHospital close by, but he had to be rushed again to the UniversityCollegeHospital(UCH) wherehe eventually died on Friday morning.

“This morning (Friday), the Yoruba people also wanted to retaliate. They said that trucks should not pass through Ebedi axis towards the shops again. That was where another fight broke out and one man named Azimi was also killed. I was there this morning (Friday) and we called the Council Chairman but he didn’t come.

They have burnt many shops there”, the resident said. Report of the death sparked anger and reprisal attack from Yoruba residents as another eye witness gave account of what he saw: he said: “I saw one Hausa man emerge from where he was staying under a trailer around the Shasha Market, probably because of heat.

As he emerged, some Yoruba people saw him and immediately swooped on him. They started attacking him with matchets and other dangerous weapons, and soon he was hacked down and killed. I had to run away from the scene for my dear life”, the Yoruba man recalled. New Telegraph also discovered that as the attacks continued, arson was also being committed. Shops and houses of rival residents were being torched from either side.

The house of the Imam of the community was torched by the Hausas because he is a Yoruba, but the house of the Seriki Shasha was barricaded by security agents. Later on Saturday morning, report had it that part of the residence of the Seriki Fulani of Shasha was also attacked by some irate youths of Yoruba extraction. Some Yoruba youths were said to have asked some occupants of a particular house owned by a Yoruba person, but in which some Hausa people were residing, to move out. After they moved out, the irate youths set the house on fire, allowing the property of the Hausa tenants in it to perish.

In some other parts, Hausa youths also wreck their own havocs in retaliation. Themayhemmightnothavedegenerated to the level it got to but for the lackadaisical attitude of security agents that were drafted to the community. Amotekunpersonnel, Operation Burst (joint force of soldiers, police and other para-military officers), as well as, men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were stationed at strategic positions around the community, with some of them patrolling in their vehicles, but they did nothing to stop the carnage. According toaresident, “theyjuststoodbesidetheroadparading AlphonsoandL.

Adisa areas, instead of goinginsidethecommunity to stop those burning shops and houses. And whenwetoldthemtoact, theysaidtheywere just instructed to come and observe and not to intervene. They said they were waiting for order from above”, the resident told New Telegraph. Heavy traffic jam became an order of the day along the route from the day the crisis eruptedtillSaturday, particularlyinthenight. Many travellers from Oyo or the Northern region were held up, with hoodlums having field day by dispossessing them of their valuables. People were said to be running helter skelter for fear of being attacked in the confused situation.

When the tension continued unabated from Thursday till Saturday, with many of the residents relocating out of the community, the State government reacted through Mr. Taiwo Adisa, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, shutting down the market indefinitely as well as, imposing curfew.

Thegovernment’spositionwascontained in a press release which stated that “FollowingskirmishesreportedinShashaMarketin Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan, the Oyo State government has ordered the immediateclosureof themarketindefinitely.

“His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde has directed the immediate closure of ShashaMarketindefinitely followingreportsof a breach of peace in the area. The governorhas also approved the imposition of curfew on Shasha. It willrunfrom 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. Residents of the affected area are enjoined to go about their legitimate businesses within the hours stipulatedbythelaw. Anyonecaughtdisrupting thepeaceof thecommunitywillbemadetoface the wrath of the law”, Makinde said.

Manytradershavesincebeenexpressingdiscomfort over the crisis as their shops have been burnt and goods stocked in them lost to the inferno. Oneof thetraders, Tambuwal, lamented that “the closure of the market is going to affect mesoseriouslybecauseI havesomeperishable goods, including tomatoes, inmyshop. ThoughI amluckymyshopwasnotburnt, Icannotrecovermygoodsandhavethemsold. Ihadtofleethe market when the Yoruba man died.

The capital I have invested in the goods has gone down the drainnow. AnotherconsignmentIhadordered from Kano cannot be delivered until peace is fully restored and the market reopened. This is because trucks cannot enter again. Many business people including drivers are now thrown out of job as their vehicles are turned back at Ojoo and Akinyele axis”, he lamented. Another trader, Mama Mubarak, whose provisions shop was burnt down, grieved over herlost goods andseriesof householdproperty in it. According to her, “I don’t know where to start from now. See, my whole shop has been burnt down.

Hardly could I retrieve anything tangible from the shop. This is a needless crisis, thecauseof which Iamnotguilty. I ampleading with Governor Seyi Makinde to please assist me and other victims. This is too much for me”, she said. It was the same agony with Mama Kolade whose dry pepper and vegetable shop was razed. Her concern was that apart from her loss, she will be out of business until the market is reopened. As at Sunday afternoon, feelers from Shasha Market indicated that relative calm had returned with security operatives positioned atstrategiclocationstopreventfurther breakdown of law and order.

In furtherance of seeking peace amongst the stakeholders in the community, Makinde and his Ondo State counterpart, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu later in the evening visitedthetroubledShasacommunitywhere they appealed for calm and peaceful coexistence between the Hausa community and their Yoruba hosts. According to a press release signedbyGovernor Seyi Makinde’s Chief Press Secretary, TaiwoAdisa, thetwogovernorswhospokeat theShasha Marketandthe palaceof theBaale Shasa, urgedtheresidentsof thecommunity and Oyo State, particularly the Yoruba and Hausa to stop taking laws into their hands.

Speaking at the market, Governor MakindewhowasaccompaniedbytheOyoState Commissionerof PoliceMrsNgoziOnadeko, promised to give palliatives to those whose wares were affected during the crisis, adding that the two factions have to eshew violence and allow peace to reign. He said : “Please, I want you to listen to me clearly. You cannot resort to self-help to solve the issue on ground. All of you who are here are doing business with one another in one way or the other.

The last time I came here, aboutsixweeksago, someshopsbelongingto Hausa and Yoruba people got burnt. “So, you 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 feedyourselves.

I will engage with your leaders this evening. Onethingis, if youallowthosewhodon’thave anything to lose here to blow this matter out of proportion, noonewillbeabletosaywhere the crisis will end. By the grace of God, I pray we don’t lose any more lives. “We must not lose any life needlessly anymore. Whatthegovernmentwilldotoensure that those whose houses, shops were burnt, we will rebuilt immediately. But please, I beg of you, letusstopfighting withourselves.

Ican assureyouthatwewilldealwiththesituation. “We must continue to maintain the peace here. Those who are hoodlums here will be dealt with but those who are law-abiding will be compensated for what they have lost.” Similarly, Governor Akeredolu of Ondo State, who is the Chairman, South West Governors’

Forum, said that he was in Oyo Stateonbehalf of theSouthWestGovernors, stressingthatevery aggrievedpartymuststop fighting and allow peace to reign. “Concerning theissueonground, wehave come to beg you. Wehave 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. I have come here on behalf of my colleagues in Ekiti, Lagos, Osun and Ogun.

All of them have sent messages. Ogun has its own crisis it is battling with, so does Lagos. But as the chairman, I decided to come around to appeal to us. “Though we are here in our fatherland, our own sons and daughters are in another person’sfatherland. So, letusthinkaboutthis andcontinuetoliveinpeacewithoneanother.

We don’t need to fight ourselves. “We have security agencies that you can call their attention to any issue that could cause crisis. Let us not take law into our hands. I have a brother in Abuja and others living in Hausaland”, Akeredolu said. He urged residents to cooperate with the governor of Oyo State and not to take laws intotheirhands, stressing, “Also, letuscooperatewiththegovernorhere. If therearethings we have done wrong, forgive us”, he pleaded.

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