Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and his Ondo State counterpart, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Sunday visited the troubled Shasa community in Ibadan, Oyo state to appeal for calm and peaceful coexistence between the Hausa community and their Yoruba hosts.
The two governors who spoke at the Shasa market and the palace of the Baale Shasa urged the residents of the community and Oyo State, particularly the Yoruba and Hausa to stop taking laws into their hands.
Speaking at the market, Governor Makinde promised to give palliatives to those whose wares were affected during the crisis, adding that the two factions have to eschew violence and allow peace to reign.
“Please, I want you to listen to me. 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,” he said.
According to the Governor, the last time he visited the community- about six weeks ago, some shops belonging to Hausa and Yoruba people were burnt.
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“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,” Makinde said.
The stated that there mustn’t be lost of any life needlessly anymore. On what the government will do to ensure those whose houses, and shops were burnt are assisted, the Governor said they will be rebuilt immediately.
“But please, I beg of you, let us stop fighting with ourselves. I can assure you that we will deal with the situation. 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, said that he was in Oyo State on behalf of the South West Governors. He said that every aggrieved party must stop fighting and allow peace to reign.
“Concerning the issue on ground, we have come to beg you. 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,” Akeredolu said, adding that he was visiting the Community on behalf of his colleagues in Ekiti, Lagos, Osun and Ogun. All of them have sent messages.
“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. We don’t need to fight ourselves.
“We have security agencies that you can call their attention to any issue that could cause a crisis. Let us not take the law into our hands. I have a brother in Abuja and others living in Hausaland.”
He urged residents to cooperate with the governor of Oyo State and not to take laws into their hands.
