by Azeez Adeniyi

The Federal Government has said the recent bloody clash between Yoruba and Hausa communities in Ile-Ife, Osun State was not caused by ethnic issues.

The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, said this after he visited the scene of the clash and interacted with leaders of the two communities in the state.

The minister said, “We went straight to communities where this crisis occurred and we saw the extent of damage and we met the leadership of the communities and discussed with them.

“It is very clear that this issue is not about crisis between Hausa community and Yoruba community in Ile-Ife.

“The Hausa community has been living in Ile-Ife for close to 200 years. I understand the first settlers arrived there in 1820. This is about the fourth or fifth generation of the community and they have never experienced this kind of thing until now.

“So, it is not about ethnic issue. It is about a couple or bunch of people who constitute themselves to a nuisance to carry out this dastardly act and quite a number of them escaped from the community.

“So, we made them to understand that they should not look at it from the point of view of ethnicity and they all agreed.”

He said they also emphasised the need for the people to live in peace.

He added that they were warned against considering reprisal.

“The issue of revenge or reprisal should not come to anybody’s mind because the government is handling the situation.

“Those found to have been involved in deliberately attacking people, taking lives and destroying properties will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

“So, we emphasised that there is the need for us to be in peace because without peace, it is impossible to develop and that was understood by everybody.”