EKO HOT BLOG reports that Coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Kwara State chapter, Comrade Ganiyu Oladipupo, has disclosed that the police report had shown his members were not involved in the crisis leading to the death of four persons in the Ajase-Ipo area of the state, describing it as unfortunate.
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Oladipupo said this on Sunday in a statement made available to newsmen, describing as arrant lies the statement by the Kwara State Chairman of the Gan Allah Fulani Development Association, Alli Mohammed Jounwiro, that the OPC killed nine of his members.
According to him, the crisis had started earlier between Yoruba and the Fulani in the town before the attack on the OPC members that were returning from Osun Osogbo Festival, saying that what happened the very day of the incident was a transfer of “usual aggressions” by the Fulani community.
“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 stucked 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,” he added.
Oladipupo insisted that his members were not part of the crisis, saying that the leader of the Kwara State cow dealers, Jounwiro, was only trying to hide the truth in order to curry favour from the public.
He said it was also a complete lie told by Jounwiro to have alleged that OPC members made away with several millions of naira during the fracas.
“The leader of the Kwara State cow dealers was trying to hide the truth in order to 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 until 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,” he lamented.
Oladipupo said that though peace had been restored to the area, it was important to state that the OPC was a peaceful organization that had been going about its cultural promotion activities peacefully without any hitch.
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“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.
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