Penultimate week, some parts of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital boiled. Hoodlums descended on some areas, killing and maiming people, even as they destroyed properties. BISI OLADELE and TAYO JOHNSON captured the moods of some of the survivors who pleaded with government and public-spirited individuals to come to their aid.
There were hustle and bustle of commercial activities in a bubbly densely populated community. There were brisk movements of pedestrians. Awkward movement of commercial motorcycles and other activities have returned to Born Photo-Iyana Asuni-Idi-Arere, an Ibadan neighbourhood troubled by a violent attack last week.
The community was attacked by hoodlums in a battle of supremacy last week during which over 15 shops were burnt, some looted and many vehicles vandalised. The attack lasted about two hours as residents ran for safety from the scene of the attack.
But while normal activities have returned, victims of the attack have commenced efforts to rebuild their shops while calling for help from the government and philanthropic Nigerians and organisations.
They also recalled the day of horror in a chat with our correspondents.
Mrs Falilat Rasheed, 38, is a tailor whose shop was burnt in the attack. The shop was reduced to rubbles after the attack.
She recalled that the area had been attacked on Friday with minor impact but that the Sunday attack left sore memories for shop owners and residents in the area.
Her words: “I have two sewing machines, a freezer with which I sell soft drinks and few other items. They were all burnt down with the shop. I could not salvage any of the items.
“They actually started on Friday around 4:00 p.m. They stole my stocks – drinks and other items. We thought it was all over.
“That day, I was cutting a piece of cloth when I suddenly noticed people running helter-skelter. They said the hoodlums were on rampage.
“As if that was not enough, at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, they re-surfaced in large number and were armed with dangerous weapons. I ran for my dear life, just as many others did.
They threw fire on our line of shops. It started burning. We couldn’t rescue anything. As the shops were burning, fire fighters arrived but the hoodlums turned them back.
“Later, the police came, threw tear gas on them and they fled. Then, sympathisers came to help us quench the fire, even though the shops had been fully burnt.”
She put her lost at N100,000.
Another victim, Mr Dauda Ajani is a welder. His shop was also razed down by the hoodlums.
He said: “I have been here for over 10 years. This violence sometimes happens but they never destroyed properties as they did this time. They could fight and threaten but they never destroyed our shops like this.
“I was not in the shop on that sad day. They said the hoodlums came at 9:00 a.m. I just heard that they were fighting. By the time I got here at 9:45 a.m, my shop had been burnt completely.
“We reached out for water to quench the fire but did not succeed. They burnt my welding generator, my hammer, uniform and photos of previous works.
I didn’t even meet them. They had gone. I only met some sympathisers. They said the boys threw broken bottles to them while making efforts to quench the fire.
“On sighting the burning shop, I broke down in tears. I was sad, distraught, disheartened. This is my only source of income. I never leant any other type of vocation in my life. He said he lost some money which he said he borrowed from a co-operative society.
“I actually borrowed the money for the generator from a co-operative society. I lost about N400, 000.”
On how he has been surviving, Mr Ajani said only God has been taking care of him through friends and relations.
He appealed to the government and Nigerians to come to his aid.
On what he requires as assistance, he said: “All we want is to have our shops repaired. We need instruments to work.”
Funke Olaniyan. 50, is another victim. In her shop, grinding machine and two freezers were in her shop. They all went in flames when her shop was torched.
She put her loss at N350, 000.
“I burst into tears when I came here that morning. I don’t know where to start from again. I just need help now,” she said.
Others include Mrs Fausat Amusat, 40, a retailer; Mrs Ishau Aminat, 29, a hairdresser; Mrs Toyin Hammed, 25 who sells eggs and Hafeez Oyeniyi, 32, who had his commercial motorcycle burnt.
Mobile policemen are still stationed in the neighbourhood with two armoured personnel carriers (APC) at different locations.
Meanwhile, major political parties in the state have been trading blames over the violence. While the Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) accused the state’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Accord and Labour Party of sponsoring hoodlums to cause mayhem in affected areas with a view to discredit Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s administration. The washed their hands of the violence.
The Chairman of the party, Chief Akin Oke, made the allegation while briefing reporters on the state of the crisis in Ibadan.
Oke, who condemned the pockets of violence and described them as “totally unacceptable and appalling,” recalled that the governor had traversed 32 local government areas across the state in an official visit with a plan to round it off in Ibadan South West Local Government when opposition parties attempted to discredit the exercise by sponsoring the mayhem to score political points.
He said the warm reception and tumultuous crowds that welcomed Ajimobi in all the local government areas he visited, the councils jolted the opposition, which made them embark on sponsoring the violence.
“The Friday, November 21, violent and unprovoked attacks on our people at Oke-Ado area of Ibadan and the ones recorded at Born Photo, Popo Yemoja, Idi-Arere and environs on Sunday November 23, as well as the mayhem which ravaged Idi-Ikan, Opoyiosa and environs on Tuesday, November 25 are a clear manifestation of the script which the opposition elements in the state had prepared for implementation with a view to creating a tense atmosphere ahead of the 2015 general elections and discrediting the ruling party which has received global applause for stamping out lawlessness, brigandage and indecent practices from the state since we came into power in May, 2011,” Oke said.
The APC specifically alleged that the hoodlums working for the PDP and led by one Ekugbemi caused a breach of peace on Friday while the gang also later engaged another political gang led by one “Omo Alhaja” in a supremacy battle which led to the destruction of property and harassment of innocent residents.
The party alleged further: “In all of this, we wonder how the opposition elements in the Peoples Democratic Party, Accord Party and the Labour Party have been able to unite and organise themselves towards forming a formidable team of alarmists who dish out details of these ugly events even shortly before the attackers would commence their nefarious activities.
“If not that they are the sponsors, how would street urchins and political thugs be carrying out attacks on the one hand and the opposition parties would be reporting it live in such a way to implicate some identified members of the APC even without any concrete evidence to prove their alleged involvement.”
But the opposition parties denied the allegation. They urged the APC government to look inward for the sponsors of the violence.
In a statement by its Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Kehinde Salawu, the party distanced itself from the claim by the APC, asking how it could be indicted of causing violence perpetrated by the ruling party, which aspirants continued to demonstrate desperation, leading to violent clashes across the state capital.
“It is sad that rather than take responsibility for the destruction of property and waste of innocent lives being witnessed in Ibadan in the last few days as a result of APC’s desperation ahead of the 2015 general elections, the party has chosen to shift blames.
“How and where did the PDP perpetrate the vioence in Ibadan? Can the APC, a Janjaweed party that is living on borrowed times, authenticate this demonic and baseless claim? Much as we will not like to dignify a party that has already been rejected by the people of Oyo State by reacting to its tissue of lies, which it is known for across the country, we state unequivocally that the PDP is committed to the peace and well-being of the people of Oyo State. And we warn the APC to desist from tarnishing our party’s image and focus on how to salvage its crumbling house,” the PDP said.
Also in a reaction, the Labour Party, in a statement by its Director, Media and Strategy, Taiwo Ibrahim, said: “The APC should look inward concerning the latest rounds of violence and disturbances in the city of Ibadan. Two of their lawmakers recently engaged in bloodletting and fought dirty. Are we the ones behind it? Reports at Oke-Ado showed that one of their thugs engaged an okada man and this snowballed into further attack on police. Anyway, police is in the know of all that transpired and we need not say more.”
