Hausas reportedly depart Ile-Ife after communal clash that left many dead

Following a communal clash that left  several people dead and others wounded in Ile-Ife, Osun state, the Hausas who reside in the town have allegedly started moving out.

Hundreds of Hausas were reportedly leaving in batches, through commercial buses and cars.

While some of them took Ilesa route, others followed Akure route where they could get direct vehicles to the North.

The Sun newspaper reports that the Hausa people claimed that it was only their people that lost their lives, following attacks by hoodlums whom they said, used dangerous weapons, including guns, cutlasses and cudgels among others.

Scene of the clash in Ile-Ife

Report shows that the Hausas started fleeing Ile-Ife on Wednesday when the clash got terrible and they were still fleeing in batches as at Friday evening.

One of the Hausa leaders, the Afobaje of the Hausa communities in Ile-Ife, Alhaji Malami Nasidi, told Saturday 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, adding that he and his family and other victims had been sleeping outside and could not guarantee their security.

He said: “We need to go 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."

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.

Hassan said: “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. Other 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."

Another survival, Mustapha Nadabo 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 thing I have now. I lost everything. I don’t have any option than to go back to the north where I came from."

Another Hausa leader, Alhaji Buhari Halum, also lamented the attack, saying 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 recourse to the age-long relationship.

Meanwhile, the aftermath of the fight left the town desolated as banks, public and private schools as well as government offices were under lock and key.

Majority of the civil servants who went to work were sent back home by security personnel as most of the roads leading to their offices were blocked.