The ethnic crisis between some Hausas and Yorubas in Ile-Ife that broke out a few weeks ago appears to be taking a new turn even after the crisis had been resolved. What the aftermath and the events that have unfolded since the resolution of the crisis have shown us is the politics of ethnic exaltation, even in crisis resolution, by the powers that be in the country.
News filtered in on March 8 from the city of Ile-Ife of houses being burnt and people being killed by Hausa and Yoruba traders. The cause of the sad events which claimed the lives of over 40 persons and saw a lot of properties destroyed would not be known until another 24 hours had passed. A version of what led to the fight was then reported to be a minor fracas between a Yoruba woman trader and a Hausa man. As the conversation that ensued between the two turned rancorous, slaps went from one to the other, and a few hours later, the reprisal attacks began. Scores of people who knew nothing about the minor fight were killed, including a pregnant woman who had just gone to pick her son up from school.
Calm was restored to the streets of Ile-Ife when the governor of Osun state, Rauf Aregbesola, deployed police officers to the town. He subsequently announced a two-day curfew to curtail a probable escalation of the crisis. A couple of fighters were arrested and were detained at the police station. However, what followed the arrest has led to a debate on social media and the streets of Nigeria.
The Nigerian Police Force on Monday 20th March paraded 20 offenders that were arrested following the unrest. According to the police, the 20 were those they were found to culpable by the initial investigation into the crisis out of the 38 people initially arrested. However, the 20 people paraded all happened to members of the Yoruba community. In a crisis that ensued between people of two ethnic groups, and causalities recorded on both sides and properties destroyed, how come all those found to have broken the laws of the state are from only one of the ethnic groups?
The only explanation that might support it is that a Hausa man had reportedly lodged a complaint at a police station in Ife before the crisis started. Does the fact that one reports a case to the police make him and every of his kind innocent?
The events in Ile-Ife has underlined the fact that a certain ethnic enjoy immunity from police arrests and such they can do what they like. They can kill without facing any consequence. They can walk into any place and destroy knowing they are untouchable. An example of when this is the Fulani herdsmen who have perpetrated crimes against humanity. They have killed and destroyed properties in their victims’ communities. But to our surprise, none of them have been brought to justice. None. None has been arrested. None has been cautioned. None has been stopped. Fulani herdsmen killed scores of people in southern Kaduna, none of them was paraded by security officials.
What the Nigerian Police Force has failed to realise is that such one-sided arrest can fuel a recurrence of such crisis in the nearest future. To arrest only Yoruba people is to say the Yorubas started the fight amongst themselves, killed their fellow Yorubas, burnt their own houses, then went to the Hausa communities to kill the Hausas. The message it communicates is that the investigation is a scripted act with a predetermined outcome. A certain young man was arrested because the police saw a fresh cut on his head. Could the man have cut himself?
The Afenifere Renewal Group, the Yoruba Progressive Movements as well as other groups and intellectuals have berated the lopsided investigation by the Nigerian police, warning them of an impending crisis if fairness is not ensured.
This line of thought might be unpopular, but the only way the government can disprove it is to start bringing to book all perpetrators of heinous crimes in every part of the country with the exception of no tribe. If we must keep this union called Nigeria together, then we must exalt our sense of justice and fairness over every ethnic group in the country.
