Category: Sunday magazine

Ifon, Ilobu, Erin residents count losses after Osun communal clash

The recent communal clashes between the Osun communities of Ifon Osun, Ilobu and Erin seem to have subsided for now. Many, however, believe that the current peace is temporary, and it is only a matter of time before another crisis erupts. GBENGA ADERANTI examines the causes of the communal conflict and explores potential solutions for lasting peace in the area.

When will the ongoing conflict between the Osun communities of Ifon, Erin and Ilobu come to an end? That is the question on the lips of many inhabitants of the State of the Living Spring. The three communities have for decades engaged one another in series of communal clashes as a result of two parcels of land at Opapa and Gbere areas, over which Ifon and Ilobu dragged themselves to court in 1968.

Findings revealed that the two communities aforementioned were in the legal battle up until 2018 with case numbers HOS/29/64, Supreme Court case of 1968; FCA/1/19/68, HOY/20/70 between Oba J. O. Akinyooye II, the Olufon of Ifon and Oba Aminu O. Siyanbola, the Olobu of Ilobu; Appeal No: FCA/I/1978 between Oba J. O. Akinyooye II, the Olufon of Ifon and Prince Salami Adesina; Suit No HOS/22/86 between Jimoh Adigun and Oba Asiru Olaniyan; Appeal No CA/I/153/98 between Amusa Akanni and Oba Asiru Olaniyan; Suit No HOS/22/86; Appeal No SC 94/2015; Suit No HOS/40/2015 between Oba A. A. Magbagbeola (Olufon of Ifon) & Orolu Local Government and the Governor of Osun State and others.

The animosity that had built up between the two communities had led to a clash on July 22, 2005 as officials of the Nigeria Population Commission (NPC) were confused as to the community that should lay claim to some of the people. The clash was, however, quelled promptly.

After another clash in 2023, the state governor, Ademola Adeleke, set up a 14-man Community Peace Resolution Committee after screening the representatives nominated by the warring communities and approved their selection. The committee consisted of four persons each from Ilobu, Ifon and Erin-Osun communities, while two representatives were also chosen from Okanla to make it a 14-member committee. However, the deliberations of the committee ran into a dead end over the involvement of Okanla, which Ilobu kicked against.

The clashes between the affected communities in the last three years have led to the killing of more than 30 people while many others are still battling injuries they sustained from the war. Among the deceased persons was a student of a higher institution in the area. Proprieties were also destroyed. The recent clash between the three communities was, therefore, not a new phenomenon.

Before the commencement of Ramadan, there had been palpable tension, with pockets of skirmishes between the neighbouring communities of Ifon and Ilobu. To prevent a large-scale crisis, the state government imposed a 24-hour curfew in the two communities. Unfortunately, the crisis erupted with no fewer than 30 residents allegedly shot, while N2 billion worth of property was said to have been lost.

The last clash, the eighth since Governor Ademola Adeleke assumed office, was described by a stakeholder in the state as unprecedented, noting that there had never been a time when properties and lives of those magnitudes were lost in the clash. A former Field Commander of the Amotekun Corps, the state’s security outfit, Amitolu Shittu, described the recent communal clash as “avoidable”, blaming the Adeleke government in the state for the poor handling of the crisis.

At the time of filing this report, many individuals were still mourning the loss of loved ones and property. Among them was Alhaji Hassan Abdulhakeem Taju, a tomato merchant in Ilobu, who lost goods worth more than N4.5 million within an hour.

Speaking with The Nation, Alhaji Taju expressed despair and frustration over the state government’s failure to act proactively and prevent the situation from degenerating. He said he was merely a trader going about his business and was not involved in the crisis. While he is thankful to be alive, he believes that finding a solution to the conflict is challenging.

He said: “I am neither a part of the warring groups nor affiliated with their ethnic backgrounds.

“All I am hoping for is that the Almighty Allah brings peace among them if they desire it.

“As it stands, so many people are living in grief. It would be better if those who died had not suffered so much destruction.”

Like many others, Alhaji suspects that the crisis might have been orchestrated, given the nature of the attacks and the government’s response. He wondered how a government would be so slow in responding to a crisis that costs its citizens their lives. 

Reliving his experience on the night when they were attacked in Ilobu, he said they had arrived at the market the night before to drop off goods, including tomatoes and peppers. He recalled that the conflict started at about 10pm as they were offloading their last items.

He said that despite calls for help, no assistance arrived until about 4am the next day, even though the distance from Ilobu to Osogbo is less than 20 minutes drive. He said that when two teams of policemen finally responded, he felt a relief at the prospect of restoring order only for the policemen to be overwhelmed by the Ifon people who shot at them and forced them to beat a retreat.

By his estimation, no fewer than 18 police officers were suppressed by the attackers. “If the government cannot manage a situation from 10 pm until the next day, then there is a serious problem,” he said.

Another source who craved anonymity also blamed the government for the slow response, saying: “After the Ifon community completed their attack on Ilobu, the Erin community also struck, and the government did not intervene until three days later when relative peace was restored. How do you explain that?”

In tallying his losses, Alhaji Taju estimated that he had lost more than N16 million. Tomatoes and pepper vendors, he said, could have lost more than N100 million from the crisis.

He said: “I know of a woman who sells provisions. She must have lost more than N100 million, because her shop was completely razed. “Another woman, who sells rice opposite my shop, lost about 98 bags of rice and more than 60 cans of groundnut oil when her shop was destroyed.

“I don’t know how she will start all over.” 

He appealed to the government to assist the victims of the crisis, believing that it was politically motivated, as no one would dare to oppose the government.

Read Also: Rainstorm destroys schools, mosques, others in Kwara community

“We are in very serious hardship. The government needs to support us,” he added.

Another victim of the communal clash, Alh Nureni Abdulraheem, an indigene of Ifon, lost his home and everything in it. He has accepted his fate and is appealing to those who are aggrieved to sheath their swords. Like many others, he believes that the crisis was unwarranted, as the three communities are related in various ways.

 “My family members are married to people from Ilobu, and Ilobu has also married into Ifon and Erin,” he said.

While it is difficult for him to quantify his losses, he is thankful that he and his family survived.

Abdulraheem added: “I didn’t take anything out of my house that was destroyed. My Islamic books alone were worth millions of naira.

“My clothes, those of my children and my wife, her shop and so many other things were lost in the crisis.

“But I thank God that I am alive and my family members are safe.

“I’m very grateful for that.”

He disclosed that while it is not uncommon for Ifon and Ilobu to disagree, such conflicts are typically resolved quickly after some stone-throwing. “After that, everything goes back to normal, and we continue to do business with one another,” he said.

The recent crisis, however, came as a shock to many, and he described it as an unfortunate incident.

“Those responsible should please stop, as we are all connected. Ilobu and Erin are part of the same family,” he pleaded, noting that during a previous crisis, Ilobu people destroyed many buildings in Ifon but Ifon people said nothing then.

“This time, it is different. Ilobu started it. We must choose the path of peace. I pray that there will be no war again in our communities or Osun State as a whole.”

Unfortunately, many people who are not involved in the crisis are often caught in the wave of violence. As things stand, the crisis has had a serious effect on the economy of the communities involved. The majority of traders and dealers who are non-indigenes of these communities have since moved out. When these traders would return, nobody knows.

Politics of attacks

In spite of troubles between these two communities, they share many cultural and historical ties. Reports indicate that since the crisis erupted many years ago, numerous lives have been lost and significant amount of property damaged.

While stakeholders have continued to trading blame over the incident, investigation by our correspondent revealed that the root cause of communal clashes in the area has always been land-related issues.

One of the stakeholders disclosed that until the government defines the boundaries within these communities, any peace move would come to naught.

Unknown to many, a past administration in the state  had made an attempt in the past to find a permanent solution to the incessant communal clash among these communities, but the effort was allegedly thwarted by one of the traditional rulers.

According to a source, the government, realising the genuine claim of one of the communities as being the owner of the disputed land, decided to pay the community compensation and thereafter cede the ownership of the disputed areas to the two other communities.

“The condition was that the government would do a deed of agreement, which would confirm that the government bought the disputed areas. Unfortunately, the monarch of the community the land belonged to insisted on being personally paid part of the money.

“The government refused to pay the monarch, saying the proceeds from the sale of the land was for the community and not an individual. Thus the deal was cancelled.”

The source said if the deal had sailed through, the crisis would have become a thing of the past. Since then, the deal has not been revisited.

Confirming the findings by our correspondent, a stakeholder who spoke on the recent communal clash, said the government’s inability to define boundaries among the communities has exacerbated the conflict.

The stakeholder said: “This disputed land, according to Mr Governor at a function, is now a buffer zone where people from various communities farm and assert ownership. Unfortunately, the government did not officially designate the buffer zone or demarcate it or even gazette it.

 “The people of Ilobu began to build on this land, destroying kola nut and cocoa trees in the process. The Ifon community felt that the government was deliberately favouring Ilobu and granting them undue advantage.

“They wondered why their farms were still being destroyed, alleging that while Ilobu constructed buildings on that parcel of land, Ifon was being resisted anytime they tried to farm on the disputed land, even to the extent of shooting the farmers.”

The problem, he said, is compounded by the fact that the Ilobu community has developed on what is seen as uninhabited land, further angering Erin in the process.

While violence among the Osun communities has become a recurring issue, never before had allegations of government support for one town over the other been so pronounced.

Investigation by our correspondents revealed that the current government in Osun is composed of individuals with varying interests, making it challenging to resolve the crisis effectively.

“How can one explain a situation where appointees of the state government align with one community against the other?” a stakeholder asked.

Our correspondent gathered that despite previous conflicts, the current situation is different because Ilobu allegedly initiated the attack on Ifon, resulting in the death of a councillor.

The Nation gathered that the alleged murder of an Ifon woman during one of the attacks further incited anger among the Ifon people and led to a retaliatory attack on Ilobu. Claims and counter-claims have continued to trail the clashes.

Responding to the claim that Ilobu people drew the first blood, the National President of Ilobu Asake Development Union (IADU), Olufemi Salako, in an open letter, called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene in what he described as a sustained campaign of violence against Ilobu by neighbouring Ifon-Osun and Erin-Osun communities, which left many dead.

Salako accused Ifon-Osun and Erin-Osun of launching coordinated attacks aimed at erasing Ilobu from the map of Nigeria.

He said: “Over 100,000 residents of Ilobu have been displaced while N2 billion worth of properties were destroyed in the recent attack on us.”

In another statement, the National President of Erin-Osun Progressive Union (EPU), Kayode Olawale, while deploring the attacks on his community, disclosed that several homes in disputed border areas were burnt down as vehicles and motorcycles were vandalised, leaving thousands of residents displaced.

The community accused Ilobu residents and armed militants of attacking Erin-Osun on Friday night, setting houses ablaze and forcing many to flee.

Mr Olawale said: “Despite our town’s neutrality in the renewed Ilobu-Ifon crisis, Ilobu attackers stormed our community, destroying homes and properties. Security forces were later deployed, but their intervention was slow, allowing the destruction to continue.

“It was also reported that the Ilobu people launched an attack on an area in Erin, which led to Erin countering Ilobu. This retaliatory action made the Ilobu community to believe that Erin and Ifon had allied against them.

“Ultimately, all three communities have faced serious casualties, though the extent of the damage varies.”

Explaining what happened, a community leader from Ifon, Mr. Jide Adelaja, said “since the Osun State Government has declared Opapa village as buffer zone, the government said they are not saying it is either Ifon or Ilobu that owns the place.

“We know that it is our ancestral village. They said nobody should work there. Since that time, Ilobu people have never stopped working in that place.

“We have written series of letters to the governor, to the Commissioner of Police, AIG Zone 2, and they are saying that it is the state government that is to take a decision on that area.

“The Ilobu are now taking advantage of the negligence of the state government who didn’t take any harsh decision against them.

“They oppress people, they beat up people. The only thing we do is to go to the police station after going to the palace.”

Adelaja said that at a point, the Ifon community had to invite the police to the scene to witness the incident.

He said: “The killer squad that the police met at the scene attempted to attack the police; nobody talked.

“The next thing we saw was that they just burnt the private house of Olufon yesterday. That was where the problem started,” Adelaja explained.

Like others, Adelaja believes that the attack was politically motivated, “because if governments says don’t do something and you are still doing it, and the government takes any decision and you still went ahead to aggravate the crisis.

“What the Ilobu people want, they are the ones that know. Nobody else knows.”

Explaining how the attack began, a stakeholder said: “Historically, the Ilobu community has often been the aggressor. But this time, they suffered significant losses.

“The Ifon community retaliated to the extent that they nearly overran the palace of the Ilobu traditional ruler.”

Investigation revealed that while fatalities occurred in Ifon, the properties damaged in Ilobu were massive. Ifon destroyed markets in Ilobu and burnt down the family home of the former deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun. Many houses were also torched in Erin.

Describing the current communal clashes as unprecedented, a source said Ilobu, for the first time, had to fight its neigbours on two fronts —Ifon on one front and Erin on another.

“Such a situation has never occurred before. The crisis might not have escalated if the Ilobu community had not felt that Ifon and Erin teamed up against them,” the stakeholder said.

The source stated further that historically, Ifon and Ilobu have had their disagreements, while Ifon has also faced conflicts with Erin. However, skirmishes between Ifon and Erin have typically not escalated into serious violence, unlike the conflicts with Ilobu, which tend to result in casualties.

“The Osun State Government should be held responsible for the crisis due to its failure to address these land disputes. The blood of those who died in the conflict is upon the government for not taking a decisive stance,” it stated.

Another source said Ilobu people are dissatisfied and blame various individuals, especially the Ataoja of Osogbo, the co-chairman of a government committee formed to address the issue, as being partisan.

However, a source claims there is no truth in the allegations. The complexities surrounding the crisis are extensive, with conflicting claims emerging from several parties.

Our correspondent gathered that one of the SSAs to the governor in the investigative committee was dropped over bribery allegation.

On the way out of the crisis, a source recommends that “a potential resolution would be for the government to take control of all land that is currently the subject of disputes, ensuring that any land falling within a community’s boundaries is ceded to that community.”

A visit to the warring communities during the recent Eid-el-Fitr revealed that residents celebrated under a tension-soaked mood as they offered solemn prayers in their different Eid praying grounds. It was discovered that despite the curfew imposed on the communities, one could smell tension, anger, animosity and possible revenge by those that were affected by the war.

On Ojutu Bridge, security operatives were seen in clusters frisking residents who were going in and out of the community as bike riders pushed their bikes through while their passengers walked with their hands in the air and vehicle owners drive very slowly.

At the Eid praying ground in Ilobu, the Chief Imam, Dr Abd’Rahman Adewale Abdul-Azeez, addressed the Muslim faithful, sympathising with those who lost property to the crisis.

He said: “We are not happy with what happened. We, the Muslim body, have now decided that we should help those that were affected.

“The economy of the town has been affected and we need to come to their aid. All mosques will contribute N10,000 each while some of us that have Jumat capacity will contribute N20,000.”

At the Ifon Eid praying ground, the Chief Imam, Sheikh Muhibullahi Adesina, urged the residents not to covet other people’s wealth or property, noting that life is vanity.

He said: “Appreciate nature and what its gives. Don’t annex what it gives to others. Be mindful of greed because it kills faster than poison. Focus on the life after this realm.”

There was low turnout of Muslim faithful at the Eid prayer grounds of the two communities compared to past celebrations. Most of the houses in the communities were deserted while others had few occupants who were aged.

Findings also revealed that the state government neglected the welfare of security operatives charged with sustaining peace in the area, including Nigeria Police, Army, Immigration, Civil Defense and DSS.

One of the security operatives, who pleaded anonymity, said: “We have been here since the crisis started and nobody is responsible for our feeding and other welfare. We can’t even buy anything in this town because most of the shops are still closed.

“There is nowhere to buy food, drinks and other things we need. The government which ought to provide us food is doing nothing. It is so terrible here. War is not good.

“During Ramadan, some Muslim faithful in the community used to give us food, but that has stopped now.

“We are hoping that government will prioritise our welfare. Many of us have not seen our families since we were deployed here.”

You need will, commitment to end communal clashes — Ex-Amotekun Commander Amitolu

Amitolu Shittu, a former Field Commander of the Osun State Security Network Agency, also known as the Amotekun Corps, recounting how he managed the clashes among the warring communities in the state in 2021, said he permanently relocated to the community during the time of Oyetola.

“I applied ’emergency’ because I wanted the hostilities to cease; I applied what you will call force. I told the then-governor, Alhaji Oyetola, that he should declare a curfew. Governor Gbeoyega Oyetola said okay, he would declare curfew by 6pm. On the dot at 6 pm, the curfew was imposed. I took advantage of the curfew to position myself; we made sure that we did not allow anybody to move at night and ensured that nobody burned any property.

“I subsequently summoned the three kings and told them that they were going to Abuja if we were unable to agree on how to cease fire. The three monarchs who refused to talk to each other put their heads together.  Eventually, they signed a peace pact with us right there. But we warned them that if there was no change, we would come back and pick them up.

“Later, we took them to the governor who was so happy that they said that the idea came from me, the commander of Amotekun. The following morning, no community dared us, and the hostilities ceased.”

“There can be peace, but the government needs to talk tough. There cannot be peace without being tough. It is about will and commitment,” Amitolu said.