From CLEMENT ADEYI, Osogbo

The Sabo community in the ancient town of Ile-Ife in Osun State which had seemingly remained the second ancestral home of thousands of Hausa people who came from the North to settle there several years ago came under a heavy attack last week and became desolate, following a communal clash between them and their Yoruba host.

The two tribes had lived together in peace and harmony until last Tuesday evening when things fell apart and the centre could no longer hold.

The bond of peace and unity that held them together, last Tuesday evening, simply gave way to a mere argument between a Yoruba woman fondly called Kubura and a Hausa man when the latter forcefully attempted to keep his luggage in her shop at Sabo Market, but the woman refused.

In the process, the Hausa man slapped the woman. It was around 6:30 pm.

Irked by the action, the Yoruba youths reportedly descended on him for laying his hands on a woman, beat him to stupor and locked him up in the shop.

Eye witnesses said this also triggered a reprisal by the Hausa people around, making the fight to snowball to orgy of violence marked by killings and destruction of lives and properties.

As at Wednesday morning when the fight resumed, eye witnesses said no fewer than 10 persons had  lost their lives, while several people were injured.

Also, property worth millions of naira was destroyed as several houses, shops and vehicles were set ablaze. Dangerous weapons, including guns, cudgels, cutlasses, knives among others were freely used during the violence.

When the dust settled, the Sabo community including Sabo market which used to be beehive of  commercial and social activities became a shadow of itself, with wreckages of burnt vehicles,  buildings, shops, stores and born.

A petrol station, a church and the central mosque in the area were lucky to escape being torched by fire that raged for hours, leaving heavy casualties in its wake.

The crisis grounded commercial activities in the entire town as nobody could operate in the market, just as movement of people was restricted as most people remained indoors.

A trader at the market where the clash erupted gave the account thus: “The woman was sitting in her shop when the Hausa man came to her. He wanted to drop some loads with her but the woman refused. She asked him to take his load away. Suddenly, he slapped the woman. Later, we saw her making a call and some group of youths came to defend her and the fight escalated.

Another source told Sunday Sun that the clash was a continuation of the lingering crisis between the factions of National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW), Abuja Branch and the Hausa people took advantage of the crisis to wreak havoc.

The leader of Hausa community in Ile Ife, the Seriki Hausa, Alhaji Mahmud Muhammed, was said to have invited the police when the crisis degenerated.

Also, a combined team of heavily armed soldiers and operatives of Nigeria Security and  Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) was drafted to maintain peace, but the devastation continued unabated, leaving several casualties in its wake when peace was restored on Thursday.

While sources said the number of the victims that lost their lives had hit 50 as at Thursday,  the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Osun State Police Command, Mrs. Folasade Odoro, said the command could not confirm the actual number of the casualties until the end of operations.

With a view to ensuring peace and security of lives and property, the Osun State Government immediately imposed a two-day curfew on Thursday from 6.00pm to 7.00 am and was to be in force till Friday.

It also ordered deployment of heavily armed security forces to the scenes of the crisis to restore normalcy.

On Thursday evening, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in company of some government officials, visited the scene of the incident to assess the magnitude of the crisis amid tight security.

While addressing people at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Aregbesola expressed deep regrets over the incident, saying it was disheartening to experience such wanton destruction in Ile-Ife again, after the end of tragic event of Ife/ Modakeke war 15 years ago.

He maintained that the Northerners in Ile-Ife were not strangers but parts and parcel of Ife people as many of them were born and bred in the town.

Aregbesola assured that such tragic incident would not occur again and promised that  perpetrators of the arson would be apprehended and persecuted.

He, however, disclosed that the most notorious among them had been arrested by the police.

He assured the Hausa Community in the state of adequate protection of their lives and property.

He also called on citizens of the state as well as other tribes resident in Osun to go about their lawful duties without fear of intimidation as government had put every security apparatus in place for their security.

“I appeal to members of the Hausa community in our dear state to remain calm and go about their lawful activities,” he said.

“The situation is under control by the government and I promise you that it will never happen again,” the governor said.

He, however, promised to compensate those who lost their property during the fracas.

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi, also regretted the unfortunate event, lamenting that it was strange to the land known for its hospitality and love.

“I have personal relationship with the Hausa settlers at Sabo. I know many of them in person. They consider this palace as their second home, but it is obvious that the crisis was aggravated  by external influences that could not be controlled,” he said.

“I believe security operatives will do their job and bring those that were responsible for it to book in accordance with the law of the land.

The Ooni called for a one minute silence for those who lost their lives in the fracas and called   for sustainable peace in the town and the entire country.

Also, the Seriki Hausa, Alhaji Mahmud Mohammed, has continued to appeal to his subjects not to take laws into their hands but must maintain peace and avoid any reprisal attack.

He, however, called on government to provide medical care for the victims in the hospital to ensure their quick recovery.

He also called on government to compensate those that lost their property during the crisis as well as the Ooni of Ife,  Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi to provide succour for the victims for rehabilitation.

But despite the assurances of security of lives and property as well as restoration of relative peace and harmony to the community, with Inspector General of Police (IGP)’s deployment of a police team to reinforce other security agencies,  including the Osun State command of the force, the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence (NSCD) in order  to  forestall further crisis, the Hausa people that survived the attack have continued to flee from the Sabo community to their various homes in the North.

When Sunday Sun visited the Sabo community at the weekend, many of them were seen fleeing the area in their hundreds with their children, bag and baggage as well as several other personal effects.

Investigations indicated that they started fleeing the community in droves since Wednesday morning when the fight escalated and continued leaving till this weekend.

One of the survivors, Danjuma Danladi, told Sunday Sun that those who could not leave yesterday would leave on Saturday (yesterday).

While explaining reasons for fleeing the community, one of the Hausa leaders, the Afobaje of the Hausa communities in Ile-Ife, Alhaji Malami Nasidi, told Sunday Sun that his people needed to leave the community immediately to escape any further attack.

According to him, they don’t have anywhere to sleep.  He lamented that he and his family and other victims had been sleeping outside, adding that their security was not guaranteed.

“We need to go to our place for now because our people are calling us to come back home and we don’t have any option than to leave now until peace is completely restored in Sabo community,” he said.

He, however, assured that they would return after total restoration of peace and security.

According to him, most of the Hausa, including himself, were born and bred in Ile-Ife and did not have any other home, noting that people in this category would seek solace in any part of the community and remain in anticipation of  return of normalcy to the area.

Alhaji Nasidi, while recounting his losses, said about N8.7m was stolen from his house by a hoodlum whom he claimed to know very well and had since reported him to the police.

Another survivor, Mustapha Hassan, from Zaria said the victims did not have any option than to go back to the North since their houses had been destroyed, leaving them homeless.

“We don’t have anywhere to stay. We don’t have anywhere to sleep.  They have destroyed everything that we have. Most of  us had shops and stores where we used to sell carpets, provisions, phones and other things. Some of our people used to sell food stuff like beans, rice, yams, pepper, onions. But everything was destroyed. We don’t have anything to survive in Ife any more. That is why we have to go back to our homes in the north,” he said.

“Since three days ago when the fight started and they killed a lot of our people, the cloth I am wearing now is the only property I have now. I lost everything. I don’t have any option than to go back to the north where I came from,” another survivor, Mustapha Nadabo lamented.

Yunisa Danbaba, a survivor who used to sell rugs and carpets, while also counting his losses lamented:

“I have been selling in this shops for several years. This is where I earned my living. But everything has been destroyed. The carpets and rugs that were destroyed here were worth about N15 million. Now I have lost everything. Where can I start from? I have to go back to the north.

A phone dealer, who refused to mention his name, said while pointing at destroyed phone and accessories littering the ground that the only source of his survival had been destroyed.

“It is very painful. That is the only business I have. Now I don’t have anything again. You see now, what do I do? I need to go back to the North.”

At a very big shop where onions and pepper littered the ground everywhere, an eye witness who preferred anonymity said the shop owner could no longer be found to recover an abandoned big bag from where some onions were still spilling into the desolate street where the shop is located.

An Ibo man, who also had a shop in the market, Nnamdi Okoro, lamented that the crisis would have a long lasting effect on the economy of Ile-Ife.

According to him, the prices of food items such as yams, beans, pepper, onions, carrot, cucumber, water melon among others that are usually brought from the North would go up since the Hausa people are going back to the North.

Tunde Arekeuyo, a Yoruba man who sells cattle, rams and goats told Sunday Sun that though he did not record any loss, it was not only the Hausa people that suffered losses.

According to him, the Yoruba people, too, suffered heavy losses that would be difficult to recover from.

A Yoruba woman, who simply identified herself as Iya Moria and claimed to sell clothes in the market, said her shop was also burnt down.

She lamented: “I borrowed money recently to buy new fabrics in order to pay back after making gains. But I lost everything to the fight. How to pay back the money now, I don’t know, she queried forlornly.

Another Hausa leader, Alhaji Buhari Halum, also lamented that the Hausa people in Ife had lived in peace and unity with the Yoruba over the years and wondered why the latter would take arms against them without regard for the age-long relationship.

He, however, disclosed that Governor Rauf Aregbesola had made a donation of 5 million naira and 14 bags of rice to the victims. He added that some kind-hearted indigenes have been assisting them in various ways.

Another aggrieved Hausa teenager lamented: “Nigeria is one. Nigeria belongs to all of us. We are one. I wonder why Ife people are killing us.”

Sunday Sun also gathered that corpses of people that lost their lives were evacuated from the hospitals at the weekend for burial.

While several people that had been displaced were busy fleeing the community, several others trooped to the Sabo Central Mosque to observe the Friday prayers with “Ife Has Finished Us” inscription conspicuously pasted in front of the mosque.”

As at Friday, several shops and offices in the community were still under lock and key, while schools remained shut as the curfew imposed by the state government remained in force.

However, economic activities have gradually picked up in the other parts of the town, with people going about their normal businesses.

Meanwhile security personnel, including heavily armed policemen, soldiers and officials of the Civil Defence mounted surveillance to ensure peace and security of lives and property.