‘Don’t resort to self-help… we’ll resolve the situation’ — Makinde begs Shasha residents

Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo state, has appealed to residents of Shasha community not to resort to self-help, as efforts are on to resolve the crisis.

He also promised to compensate all residents who lost their shops, houses and wares to the violence in Shasha area of Ibadan, the state capital.

The crisis, which started on Thursday, was said to have been caused by a face-off between a Yoruba and Hausa resident.

Speaking when he visited the area in the company of Rotimi Akeredolu, his Ondo counterpart, on Sunday, Makinde promised to give palliatives to those whose businesses were affected during the crisis.

He called on the warring parties to eschew violence, cautioning them that resorting to self-help is not an option.

The governor added that all the culprits will be fished out and brought to book.

“You have been living together peacefully and all I am pleading to you is, no matter what is making anyone angry, we will solve it with patience,” Makinde said.

“I was reluctant to declare curfew here, because I feel the economic wellbeing of everyone here is important, and because this is where you get what you use to feed yourselves. I will engage with your leaders this evening. One thing is, if you allow those who don’t have anything to lose here to blow this matter out of proportion, no one will be able to say where the crisis will end. By the grace of God, I pray we don’t lose any more lives.

“We must not lose any life needlessly anymore. What the government will do to ensure that those whose houses, shops were burnt, we will rebuild immediately. But please, I beg of you, let us stop fighting with ourselves. I can assure you that we will deal with the situation.

“We must continue to maintain the peace here. Those who are hoodlums here will be dealt with, but those who are law-abiding will be compensated for what they have lost.”

On his part, Akeredolu said he was in the state on behalf of all the south-west governors to appeal to the people to embrace peace.

He urged the people to think about their family members in other parts of the country and put an end to the crisis.

“I have come here on behalf of my colleagues in Ekiti, Lagos, Osun and Ogun. All of them have sent messages. Ogun has its own crisis it is battling with, so does Lagos. But as the chairman, I decided to come around to appeal to us,” Akeredolu said.

“Though we are here in our fatherland, our own sons and daughters are in another person’s fatherland. So, let us think about this and continue to live in peace with one another. We don’t need to fight ourselves.

“We have security agencies that you can call their attention to any issue that could cause crisis. Let us not take the law into our hands.”