The Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take a decisive action to stop the inter-ethnic violence in parts of South-west Nigeria.
Mr Matawalle made the call on Sunday through a statement signed by his spokesperson, Zailani Bappa.
The governor issued the statement in reaction to the violence on Friday at Shasha market in Ibadan that pitted hoodlums from two ethnic groups against each other.
Condemning “ethnic discrimination and regional dichotomy” in Nigeria, Mr Matawalle also appealled to Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde to douse the violence in his domain.
Tension has been rising in many parts of Nigeria between indigeneous communities and Fulani settlers over violent crimes and attack on farmers widely attributed to cattle herders.
The development has reared its head in Oyo, too, where Sunday “Igboho” Adeyemo last month led some hoodlums to sack Fulani settlements in the Ibarapa area of the state.
But last Friday’s disturbances in Ibadan were sparked by a minor dispute in the market between two persons.
Read the full text of the Zamfara governor’ Press Statement below
ZAMFARA STATE GOVT HOUSE
GOV MATAWALLE CONDEMNS ETHNIC ATTACKS, IMPLORE PRESIDENT TO ACT
In the light of ongoing wanton attacks and primitive violence on the Northern community in Ibadan, Governor Bello Mohammed has strongly condemned any act of ethnic discrimination and regional dichotomy.
Governor Matawalle, who assessed and sympathised with the victims of the ethnic
attack, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take decisive action on the spate of violence gripping some South-Western States and gradually turning into criminality.
‘It is inexcusable that at this stage of our journey as a nation, we are yet to come to terms with the fact that God has made it a destiny for us to live as one people. It is unfortunate that while our counterparts elsewhere are fusing up from particularity to generality as a people, we are fast sliding backwards from semblance of generality to particularity, Governor Matawalle lamented.
He noted that ethnic hared and regional dichotomy will not lead us to whatever we think we can gain out of it but backwardness and doom.
Governor Matawalle called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take a decisive step towards ending the ethnic profiling of the Fulani tribe in some parts of the country which is now graduating to include the entire Northern communities especially in Oyo state.
‘I also urge my colleague, the Governor of Oyo state to take concrete steps in curtailing the ongoing senseless attacks and ensure that such happenings do not occur again. We are battling with insurgency and banditry as a nation and here are supposed law abiding citizens unleashing mayhem on innocent citizens to compound the spate of insecurity in the country’, Governor Matawalle lamented.
‘We must eschew primitive hatred against one another and learn to live with ourselves as one people. Our common enemy is not among those we live in the same community, buy and sell from one another, but those who take up arms against us in the name of banditry and insurgency’, Governor Matawalle observed and advised.
Zailani Bappa
Special Adviser
Public Enlightenment and Media