The wife of the Ooni of Ife, Queen Wuraola Ogunwusi has appealed to both the Hausa and Yoruba communities in Ile-Ife to allow brotherliness that existed before the recent clash to be sustained.
Queen Ogunwusi who made the appeal on Thursday when she visited both the Hausa and Yoruba at Sabo and Enuwa palace respectively sympathised with the two communities who lost their loved ones and property worth millions of naira to the clash.
At Enuwa, the Yeyeluwa who was received by the committee set-up by Ooni of Ile-Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, noted that peace is sacrosanct and must be pursue.
She stated that nothing can be gained from violence but rather destruction.
She commended the committee for how far they have gone in ensuring that normalcy returns back to the ancient city
“I am impressed with what you have done so far since His Imperial Majesty set-up this committee as you daily give Kabiyesi report even when he was in the United Kingdom promoting African Tradition and Culture.
“Ile-Ife is the source and you have shown that to the entire world that peace is what we need.” queen stated.
Queen Ogunwusi who also visited the Hausa community was received by Alhaji Malami Nasidi and others said it was unfortunate that such incident happened.
“We are all one and should live as such. You are established here and this is the only place you know as home. Please, let us forget the past and move on.
“Those who went with the sad event cannot be brought back, but our prayer is that God should be with all they left behind as we cannot quench fire with fire, peace is the only way forward.
“I was touched by the incident and took it upon myself that I must be here personally on behalf of the Palace to commiserate with you on the unfortunate incident.”
Speaking, Alhaji Malami Nasidi who responded on behalf of the Arewa said, “we have been here for several decades and cannot even fathom why a very minor incident escalated to this magnitude.”
He appreciated Yeyeluwa for paying them a visit and prayed for long life for her and Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi.
In the mean time, the National Commissison for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Person, donated food items to the Yoruba and the Arewa in Ile-Ife.
The National Commissioner, Hajia Sadiya Farouq who was represented by South-West Zonal Coordinator, Mrs. Margaret Ngozi Ukagbu said that the fact remains that Nigerians are one.
She warned against diversification and disparity among ethnics, saying “we are brothers and sisters therefore we cannot afford to be divided.”
She appealed to Hausa/Yorubas to forget the past and what had happened, but to look for a way forward and allow peaceful coexistence on the land.
The Director-General of the Commission called on Nigerians to dialogue within each other and pass their grievances to appropriate quarters as at when due rather than destroying properties and killing people that are irreparable.
“We believe in one Nigeria and we believe in peace, what are we fighting for? In unity will stand, divided will fall and our cooperation will move the nation forward to the promise land.
“Without peace, no progress and without progress, Nigeria cannot grow and with that, we cannot develop or achieve any success or attain greatness”, Farouq said.
It was learnt that 75 pieces each of bags of rice, beans, salt, sugar, palm-oil and vegetable oil were shared by the affected communities.
Packaged by Bunmi Oladejo
