▪︎Queries compensation of “billions” to Hausa-Fulani
Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, on Friday, called out the federal government on the claim that it was prosecuting only Yoruba suspects in the recent clash between the Yoruba and Hausa in Shasa market in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Afenifere in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Yimka Odumakin, said it was “laughable that all the Yoruba have been charged for the death of a Yoruba man who was beaten with a charm to death by the Fulani when the fight ensued.”
He spoke against the backdrop of the decision by the Oyo State Police Command to charge seven Yoruba persons to court for arson and murder during the clash.
Those charged before an Iyaganku Magistrate Court, on Thursday, were Tajudeen Oladunni, 50; Saburi Lawal, 37; Ojo Joshua, 25; Adekunle Olanrewaju, 38; Olagunju James, 24; Rasaq Yahya, 32 and Olaide Olawuyi, 20, with six counts bordering on conspiracy, arson and murder.
But Afenifere said on Friday that it was totally disgusting that the Police charged charged “only seven Yoruba men over what was supposed to be a clash between Hausa and Yoruba in Shasa.”
Odumakin said: “It is a tragic throwback to three years ago when only indigenes were arrested when they clashed in the ancient city.”
The group challenged the police to show more impartiality, asking: “Where are the arsonists who burnt down the Yoruba section of the market? Are Fulanis above the law?”
It demanded a halt to what it called “selective justice that can only provoke more injustices.
“So the question to ask the Nigerian unjust system is if it was a Yoruba vs Yoruba crisis, where then is the case of the Hausa-Fulani who have been accused by the Yoruba of attacking them and which the FG had allegedly agreed to compensate with billions of Naira?”
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