Senate President Ahmad Lawan has blamed the recent ethnic clash at Shasha Market in Ibadan on the utterances of some governors from the Southwest and has called that the brains behind the clash be brought to book.
Senate President Lawan, while speaking in an interview with journalists on Sunday, tasked the government to investigate the cause of the Shasha market clash, identify the perpetrators of the violence and pay compensation to the victims.
Meanwhile, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State said the Senate President was mixing up the issues involved in the clash, with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo adding that he would rather not engage those he tagged as ‘crisis entrepreneurs and divisionists.’
Lawan, who narrated how the Senate debated the matter after its recess, outrightly condemned the actions of some political leaders for provocative remarks.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari also sat down with state governors and told them that it was not permissible for any governor to make statements that would provoke violence and unrest in his state.
Bur Governor Makinde when contacted late on Sunday to react to Lawan’s statement, said Lawan was mixing up the issues involved in the Shasha market violence.
He explained through his Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, that the incident was a disagreement between market leaders which had triggered a clash between two traders – one Hausa and the other Yoruba.
The governor added that the four Northern governors who recently visited Ibadan on behalf of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) could attest to the fact of the clash as having nothing to do with ethnicity or religion.
In a similar reaction, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State who spoke briefly disregarded the comment of the Senate boss.
His Special Assistant on New Media, Olabode Olatunde, said there was no need for media conflict with “crisis entrepreneurs and divisionists.”
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