Ogun govt set to resolve Yoruba, Hausa communal crisis

THE Ogun State government has set in motion
machineries to ensure that the recent communal
clashes that erupted between Hausa and Yoruba
communities in Ibeshe town in Yewa-South Local
government did not occur again.
Part of the plan, according to the Commissioner for
Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bashorun
Muyiwa Oladipo, was the setting up of a
communication link between Yoruba and Hausa
leaders through regular communal peace meetings.
Besides, Cement Manufacturing giant, Dangote
Cement Factory, located in the town, would soon sign
a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its host
communities.
It will be recalled that violence recently erupted in
the sleepy town of Ibeshe between some Yoruba
youths and their Hausa counterpart over the
ownership of a prostitute. Property worth several
millions of naira were lost during the fracas.
Bashorun Oladipo, during a meeting with
stakeholders in Abeokuta, added that the state
government had already approved a 24-hours
operation by members of the Traffic Compliance and
Enforcement (TRACE) as well as the immediate
establishment of a unit of the Federal Road Safety
Corps (FRSC) at Ilaro to help control heavy traffic
occasioned by the visit of heavy duty trucks in the
axis.
The establishment of the TRACE and FRSC presence,
the commissioner explained, was to install sanity due
to the chaos created by heavy duty trucks who pack
indiscriminately in the area.
Present at the meeting were Oba Kehinde Gbadewole
Olugbenle, Olu of llaro and the paramount ruler of
Yewaland; the Olu of lmasayi, the Aboro of lbeseland,
the Olu of lgbogila, the Awujako of ljako, the Olu of
Aga-Olowu and representatives of Dangote Cement
Factory, youths of the host communities, thr National
Union of Road Transport Workers (NUTRW), the
Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria police
fForce, Market Men and Women Association, and
other concerned stakeholders from the 15 host
communities.
The representative of Dangote Cement Factory, Mr
Joseph Mosadoluwa Alaba, who gave a graphic
account of what happened, confirmed that the fracas
was not an inter-ethnic fight but was as a result of
dispute over ownership of a prostitute.
Blaming a section of the media for sensationalising
the incidence, the Dangote representative thanked
the state government for its quick and proactive
intervention in curbing the escalation of the dispute.
Explaining that the company was alive to its
Corporate Social Responsibilities, Mr Alaba said the
firm was working to pay all the necessary
compensations to be paid on lands acquired soon
and also sign the Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the communities.
He added that the company had also marked out a
location for the construction of its trailer park to help
ease heavy traffic and develop the area just what it
did in Obajana and Gboko communities.