H.I.M Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, OJAJA II has described members of the Hausa Community in Ile-Ife as his subjects and co-owners of the town with whom he has enjoyed tremendous loyalty in the last 14 months of his reign.
Ooni Ogunwusi stated this On Thursday in a statement by his Director of Media, Comrade Moses Olafare who called the crisis a very unfortunate one caused by agents of backwardness and devastation.
“Kabiyesi is very unhappy about the whole crisis. He has always treated the Hausas residing in the town as his subjects and has tremendously enjoyed the loyalty of their leadership, that is why he has not left any stone unturned to bring the avoidable ugly situation to normalcy by acting promptly upon receiving a report of an altercation between a Yoruba woman and a Hausa man on Tuesday evening.
Baba immediately sent some chiefs to address the situation which was amicably resolved and we all thought it was over until we wake up the following morning(Wednesday) to hear that they had started attacking one another. He quickly informed the security agencies who responded very swiftly”. Ooni said.
The revered monarch also in the statement praised the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for his efforts towards ending the crisis.
“Thank God for the normalcy, the governor has been so proactive and the security agents have on top of the situation.
Kabiyesi got a tipoff that a number of our Hausa brothers were being held in captivity we rushed to trace them to where they were being held, we were able to rescue all of them numbering over a thousand and got them handed to their Seriki Hausa who also join us in addressing his people with a message of peace from Kabiyesi Ooni through Chief Muritala Onifade, Akogun of Ife and Adebowale Olafare, Lowa Ada of Ife. I must say, this efforts brought an end to the crisis”. Olafare maintained.
The statement concluded by urging all the Yoruba people to always embrace the Hausa and other ethnic groups as their brothers to enjoy maximum peaceful coexistence.
“My people, we are working to ensure that things don’t get out of hand. We must let peace reign in Ile-Ife and respect one another. Yorubaland is a place of love, we show love to every visitors in our land and our kinsmen in other parts of the country have equally enjoyed love from their hosts.. Let’s always maintain peace and harmony with them here too”.
He continued “The police and army personnel have been deployed to sustain the normalcy. The Osun state government has declared a two day curfew in Ile-Ife which will start from 6pm and end by 7am till Friday, March 10. We all need to do our part to ensure peace.
Directorate of Media and Public Affairs,
Ooni’s Palace,
Ile-Ife.