The federal government has stated that the recent clash between Yorubas and Hausas in Ile-Ife which led to the loss of lives and properties has nothing to do with ethnicity.
Nigeria Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, said this after visiting the site of the incident during the weekend.
“We went straight to communities where this crisis occurred and we saw the extent of damage and we met the leaderships of the communities and discussed with them.
“It is very clear that this issue is not about crisis between Hausa community and Yoruba community in Ile-Ife.
“The Hausa community has been living in Ike-Ife for close to 200 years. I understand the first settlers arrived there in 1820. These are about fourth or fifth generation of the community and they have never experienced this kind of thing until now.
“So, it is not about ethnic issue. It is about a couple or bunch of people who constitute themselves a nuisance to carry out this dastardly act and quite a number of them escaped from the community.
“So we made them to understand that they should not look at it from the point of view of ethnicity and they all agreed.”
At the meeting, Dambazau said they also emphasised the need for the people to remain in peace.
