The crisis in Ile-Ife

What started as an altercation between a man and a woman in Ile- Ife, Osun State, last week soon snowballed into a major crisis involving the loss of lives and much property destruction. Osun State government later imposed a two-day curfew from 6am to 7pm to forestall an escalation of the crisis. The state’s acting Commissioner of Police Mohammed Abubakar Koji said mobile policemen were immediately deployed to restore peace and order in the troubled area. Soldiers from the Nigerian Army Engineering Construction Regiments (ECR) were also deployed. Media reports said over 30 houses were burnt in the clash which quickly assumed an inter-communal dimension. 

Witnesses said trouble started due to a misunderstanding that one man had with a woman identified as Kubura, wife of a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW. The man, it was said, sat in front of the shop of Kubura, who sells sachet water in the town’s Sabo area. Kubura asked the man to leave but he refused, leading to a quarrel between the two. The man, said to be Hausa, slapped Kubura and this soon led to a free for all fight between ethnic Yoruba and Arewa unit of NURTW. From drivers the fighting soon engulfed traders and all other people around.  

Another version of the story had it that a man ate food in a woman’s canteen but that he failed to make the full payment for the food. Argument started between the two and the woman slapped the man. This consequently led others around the premises to take side with either the man, who is Hausa or the woman, identified as Yoruba. The clash along tribal lines soon spread to other parts of Ile Ife town. Both versions of the story centered on a man and a woman from different ethnic backgrounds who had a dispute. Whether it was about food payment or sitting in front of a shop, it is totally condemnable that such a small dispute should degenerate into a major inter-ethnic conflagration with the loss of so many lives and property destruction. It speaks to the tensions, illogic and lack of a sense of proportion in modern Nigerian society. The dispute could have been amicably resolved at a police station but many Nigerians would rather take the law into their own hands. 

Apart from the police, there are many layers of leaders among the drivers and traders. There are market leaders, leaders of drivers and other trades, as well as community leaders for different ethnic groups. All of these leaders are constantly engaged in dispute resolution in markets and it is usually when they cannot handle a matter that it is referred to the police. It is highly regrettable that all these dispute resolution mechanisms broke down in Ife with such horrible results. 

The mass media did not help matters with its quick resort to reporting of a “Hausa/Yoruba clash” in Ife. While it is true that the dispute assumed inter-communal dimensions at some point, such unprofessional reporting serves to whip up sentiments in other places and obscures the cause of the dispute. It could also lead criminal elements in other places to undertake so-called reprisal attacks. Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola condemned the clash and warned that the state government would not tolerate any breach of public peace. We commend Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim K. Idris for inaugurating a probe panel to investigate the immediate and remote causes of the clash. We urge the Hameed Bello-led probe panel to conclude investigations and submit its report in good time. All identified culprits should be prosecuted and punished according to provisions of the law in order to deter others. We also urge the state and federal authorities to provide succor to the wounded and displaced, including the hundreds of people said to be taking refuge after the crisis.