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| THE LIST OF ARRESTED SUSPECTS OF ILE-IFE ETHNIC CLASH Source: Punch Newspaper |
The police's parade of 20 suspects, who are mainly Yorubas without a single Hausa/Fulani following the March 8 Ile-Ife ethnic clash between the two tribes which reportedly claimed 46 peoples' lives has sparked a vehement verbal protest from the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, News Punch understands
The Publicity Secretary of the group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin said the parade of the suspects in Abuja showed “undue sectional deployment of federal might,” report according to Punch Newspaper detailed
Faulting the police, Afenifere said it objected seriously to the parade of the “so-called suspects in Abuja that is hundreds of miles away from the scene of the conflict.”
According to the group, the right place to investigate this disturbance is Osun State.
It stated, “The Abuja show is undue sectional deployment of federal might to intimidate and harass a party in the conflict. It is direct fallout of the threat of the Interior Minister (Abdulrahaman Danbazzau) after he visited Ife.
“The minister is not on record to have visited any scene of conflict where Fulani herdsmen have inflicted ‘massacres’ on their host communities in the Southern and Middle Belt communities since he was appointed.
“The Ife crisis was sparked by the beheading of a Yoruba vulcaniser and the subsequent parade of his severed head on a pole. How come there is no member of the Arewa community paraded by the police?
“We reject the one-eyed Magistrate that the police have become in this matter and which is as a result of the ethnic composition of the police presently.
“We demand the immediate transfer of the suspects to Osun state. We will resist this ethnic vengeance through the police except we see arrests of the Fulani aggressors in the Ife conflict.”
But the National Publicity Secretary of the pan-northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, said he would not comment on the arrest and the parade of the suspects in Abuja.
“I won’t comment on that matter. We don’t want to give anything ethnic or religious colouration; that’s why I don’t want to comment on it. Sorry, I am in the hospital attending to people. One of my best friends is ill please,” he said.
Meanwhile, the police had, on Monday, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, paraded 20 suspects, including a traditional ruler, Oba Ademola Ademiluyi, the Lawarikan of Apojeland, for alleged involvement in the Ile-Ife crisis.
The Force said 46 persons were killed and properties worth millions of naira destroyed during the mayhem while 96 others were hospitalised at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital out of which 81 of them were treated and discharged while 15 others were still on admission.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, said 38 suspects were earlier arrested, detained and investigated, out of which 18 persons, who were not involved in the violence, were released.
Checks, however, indicated that all those paraded for their involvement in the violence were Yoruba, but the police spokesman denied that the investigation was targeted at a particular group.
He insisted that the suspects were indicted by the investigators, noting that evidence collated by the police showed that the suspects were all involved in the violence that rocked the ancient city.
Moshood stated, “It is not a one-sided thing; suspects from different backgrounds were arrested and some of them were released when investigations showed that they had nothing to do with the violence.
“To be specific, 38 suspects from various backgrounds and ethnic groups were arrested, but 20 of them, who were found culpable for direct and indirect participation in the killing of innocent people were detained and they would be prosecuted.”
Below is the Full List of the Arrested Suspects:
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| THE LIST OF ARRESTED SUSPECTS OF ILE-IFE ETHNIC CLASH Source: Punch Newspaper |
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| THE LIST OF ARRESTED SUSPECTS OF ILE-IFE ETHNIC CLASH Source: Punch Newspaper |
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