The Oodua Peoples Congress and the Fulani traders who were said to have been involved in last Friday’s gory altercation in Ajase-Ipo in the Irepodun Local Government area of Kwara State have denied starting the altercation.
Recall that on Friday, a fight broke out between Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) members and Fulani settlers in Kwara State’s Ajase Ipo Local Government, resulting in an undisclosed number of injuries.
Both sides opened fire intermittently as the altercation got underway at Kaara market.
Ajayi Okasanmi, the state police command’s spokesman, verified the event as police officers were sent to the area to ease the tension.
But Alhaji Alli-Mohammed Jounwuro, state chairman of the Gan Allah Fulani Development Association, claimed that 9 people were killed by the OPC members in the incident while 450 cows were lost while reacting on Saturday to the bloody clash between cow dealers and members of the OPC at Kaara market in Ajasse-Ipo.
Ali Mohammed claimed that while several individuals were hurt during the gory altercation, OPC members also stole over N6 million during the altercation.
In an appeal, he pleaded with the State Government and security forces to prevent Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) members from enforcing the legislation.
However, Comrade Ganiyu Oladipupo, the coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress in Kwara state, termed the incident that resulted in the deaths of four people in the Ajase-Ipo region of the state as sad and claimed that his members were not involved in the issue.
He referred to Jounwuro’s claim that the OPC had murdered nine of his members as a falsehood.
Before the attack on the OPC members who were returning from the grand finale of the Osun festival held in Osogbo last Friday, Oladipupo said that a problem between the Yoruba and the Fulani had developed in the town earlier.
“The Fulani transferred their usual aggressions to the OPC, when a stray cow in the Kaara market along the road damaged the side mirror of one of the 20 vehicles conveying our members that were returning from Osun Osogbo festival to the state.
“Knowing that the buses conveying our members have been stuck in the gridlock,the Fulani Cow- dealers deliberately attacked the bus with various weapons.
“The reports, according to the Kwara State Police Spokesperson, Okasanmi Ajayi, showed clearly that the OPC was never part of the crisis.
“However, some of our members that sustained injuries in the course of the crisis have been receiving treatment at the hospital.
“The leader of the Kwara State cow dealers was trying to hide the truth in order curry favour from the public. He lied that the OPC members killed nine of his members alleging also that our members made away with several millions of naira during the fracas.
“Our members travelled along the same Ajase-Ipo road when they were going to Osogbo to celebrate the Osun Osogbo festival without causing any crisis.
“Why is it that the whole story changed as they were returning from Osogbo? They were attacked by the irate Fulani cow dealers who see the OPC as the only threat to their long term agenda.
“The Yoruba in Kwara state have been relating peacefully with the Hausa/Fulani untill recently when they alleged that the excesses of the Fulani in the state are becoming unbearable.
“As much as the Kaara Ajase-Ipo incident was most unfortunate, it also showed the excesses of the Fulani cow dealers who think they are at liberty to kill and maim without recourse to the law.”
Oladipupo said that though peace had been restored to the area, it was important to clarify that the OPC is a peaceful organisation that has been going about its cultural promotion activities peacefully without any hitch.
“Nobody has the monopoly to attack and kill. What the Fulani cow dealers did in Kwara that led to the death of four people was very unfortunate and shows their conquering spirit,” Oladipupo said.
