Razaq Bamidele
A pan-ethnic socio-cultural organization, Egbe Omo Yoruba Ronu has condemned in stronger terms, the reported communal clashes between two neighbouring towns in Osun State, that has led to a loss of lives and destruction of properties.
The clashes, which according to reports, were allegedly caused by a land dispute between Ilobu and Erin Osun, both settlements in the Irepodun Local Government of the state had to the imposition of curfew on the area by the state government to forestall the escalation of the crisis beyond manageable proportion.
The group, in a statement signed by its National Convener, Comrade Adeosun Adekunle, frowned at the sad event, “at a period the Yoruba Nation needs to be closely united for growth and progress,” regretting that, “kinsmen who are supposed to be their brothers’ keepers are now enmeshed in senseless and needless internal war!”
The statement further wondered how the warring brothers could have the right state of mind to ruminate over the plight of the Yoruba Nation that is being under threat of external aggressors on daily basis, calling on all the stakeholders in the area to broker an everlasting peace among the warriors.
“It is inimical to the Yoruba culture of Omoluabi to engage in disagreement that could consume lives and cause wanton destruction of properties. Crisis of such a magnitude is always antithetical to the growth and development which are required today ever than before for the race to regain its lost glory occasioned by the bad leadership inflicted on the country,” the statement submitted.
The group, therefore, reminded the elders in the area and beyond of the Yoruba adage that says, ‘no baby suffers a strained neck on the back of her mother in the presence of an elder,’ charging the community elders to rise up and quench the fire of enmity being stoked by the devil in the area before it gets out of hand.
The statement, however, hailed the prompt intervention of Governor Isiaka Adegboyega Oyetola that has put the crisis under check, just as it appealed to those concerned to allow peace to reign so the good people of the State of Osun could continue the dividends of democracy the current administration is spreading across the state indiscriminately.
Concluding, the concerned pan-Yoruba organization hinted of its preparedness to send a delegation of peacekeepers to the affected community with a view to assess the situation and take some steps that would further retighten the cord of relationship that snapped lately.
