Hausa and Yoruba clash in Ado Ekiti leaves 20 people wounded

PALPABLE tension yesterday enveloped Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State capital, during a violent clash between Yoruba and Hausa motorcyclists, known over union dues.

In the ensuing melee, 15 persons were wounded when the matter snowballed into a major crisis that nearly polarised the town between Hausa and Yoruba people.

The matter, which started at about 9.00a.m., as a minor intra-union squabble between two Yoruba and Hausa Motorcyclists at Atikankan area, the base of the Hausa/Fulani residents in the State, nearly snowballed into a full-blown ethnic clash, but for the quick intervention of the police and the state government.

A number of victims sustained injuries suspected to be machete cuts and they were being attended to at the Accident and Emergency Unit, EKSUTH, when newsmen visited the hospital.

The development paralysed commercial activities in the state capital, as Motocyclists, traders and some banks hurriedly closed down and stopped work for the day.

As at the time of filing this report, thick smoke was still emanating from the affected area from bonfires made by the okada Riders in solidarity with their affected members.

Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Maishanu , who said nobody has been arrested in connection with the mayhem, explained that the matter started when an Hausa Motorcylist refused to pay N50 union dues, which ignited crisis between him and his Yoruba counterpart.

Maishanu said, on learning of the fracas, he immediately dispatched his men to the scene to curtail the situation, to prevent the matter from assuming a dangerous ethnic colouration.