– The leader of Oodu’a Peoples Congress (OPC) Gani Adams has issued a strong warning to the inspector general of police Ibrahim Idris over the Ile-Ife crisis
– Adams said police handling of the crisis in the city is a clear display of tribalism
– He also condemned the arrest of 21 Yoruba indigenes of the state by the Nigeria police
Gani Adams said police handling of the crisis in the city is a clear display of tribalism.
The leader of Oodu’a Peoples Congress (OPC) Gani Adams has issued a strong warning to the inspector general of police Ibrahim Idris and the Nigeria Police Force over the recent crisis in Ile-Ife, an ancient city in Osun state.
Adams in a recent statement said police handling of the crisis in the city is a clear display of tribalism.
ZENITHBLOG.com gathered that while condemning the parade of 21 suspects arrested by the police in Abuja, Adams, police action towards Yoruba indigenes in the state would be resisted.
“It beats my imagination that a government that has been playing lip service to the lingering blood letting going on in Southern Kaduna, suddenly woke up from its slumber when the pendulum swings Westwards to begin an illegal arrest of Ife indigenes and leaving out the Hausa/Fulani who were deeply involved in the crisis untouched,” Adams said.
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“The police recently paraded 21 suspects that were arrested in the aftermath of the crisis and to my chagrin, all of them were Yoruba,” he said.
He also added that the action by officers of the police in the state leave a question mark, why no Hausa/ Fulani resident was arrested.
“In the light of the foregoing, I join other Yoruba leaders and some prominent Nigerians to condemn the police for its one-sided parade of Ile-Ife residents over the recent clash between the Yoruba and Hausa communities in the ancient city. I make bold to say that the arrest, as being skewed by the police, is a display of huge tribalism,” he said.
Adams added that: “On behalf of my organisations, the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and the Oodua Progressive Union, (OPU), I hereby state our serious objection to a one-sided arrest in a clash between two ethnic groups. We detest, in strong terms the undue deployment of federal influence along fault lines on the Ile-Ife crisis.”
“We also suspect foul play as well as favouritism that those who were arrested for an offence allegedly committed in Ife were being bundled up to Abuja for nothing but sheer intimidation. We know it is not right, by law, to charge anybody in Abuja for a crime allegedly committed in Ife.
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“We believe that issues that are capable of conflagrating this country must be avoided with a passion. Parading some people and saying they are culprits has severe tribal linkages with dire consequences. We cannot afford that at this point in time.
“We are like sitting on some keg of gunpowder. Politically, the action taken so far is not wise.
He further appealed to the inspector general of police to have a rethink of parading one section of the warring groups as the interpretation by many would go beyond their control.
“The action is not palatable because Nigeria is a heterogeneous state.
It is not too late to correct the trend. This is very imperative as we are not going to fold our arms to see our land being overthrown from us.
We cannot play the role of second fiddle in this case of palpable altercation involving two ethnic groups,” he said.
Watch ZENITHBLOG.com’s video of how Yorubas protected the Hausas during the Ile-Ife crisis
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