TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
There was tension in Owode-Ede community, Ede North Local Council Development Area, Osun State on Tuesday as some Yoruba youths and Hausa traders beat themselves to stupor over a disagreement on the portion for display of wares at the market.
The clash happened at the popular Owode weekly market around 10am. Eyewitness accounts revealed that some Hausa pepper sellers and Yoruba youths clashed and injured one another.
Other traders and buyers scampered to safety as buying and selling came to a halt when the aggrieved persons carried clubs and started attacking themselves.
Explaining what led to the clash, a trader in the area informed our correspondent that an Hausa pepper seller had allegedly blocked the entrance of one house located within the market with his wares displayed inside a wheelbarrow.
The occupant of the building drove his vehicle to the frontage of the house and wanted to park but the Hausa trader had already stationed his wares in front of the residential building.
Altercation ensued when the pepper seller refused to remove his wares for the occupant to park. It was further gathered that the trader’s refusal to remove his wares, provoked the house owner who forcefully removed the wares to create space to park his vehicle.
Angered by the removal of his wares, the Hausa man allegedly engaged the Yoruba man in a fight.
Consequently, the disagreement snowballed into a tribal clash as other Hausa traders at the market supported their kinsman in solidarity.
The Yoruba youths of the area were not also left out as they started beating the Hausa traders.
Many were said to have sustained injuries in the melee.
But for the prompt intervention of security agents who arrived the scene some minutes after, the clash would have led to casualties.
A resident of the area alleged that it had become the usual attitude of the Hausa traders to display their wares on unauthorised places.
She said, “These Hausa people are fond of displaying their wares in front of people’s stalls and houses. This should not have resulted into crisis if they had listened.”
Meanwhile, nolmacy had returned to the area as the affected Hausa traders were taken to the palace of the traditional ruler of the community, the Olu of Owode to resolve the issue.
Those who sustained injuries were rushed to the nearby hospitals for treatment.
The State Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode confirmed the clash on Tuesday while speaking with journalists at the Police Headquarters in Osogbo.
He said some of his men were immediately deployed to the area to restore order.
Olokode appealed to residents of the State to coexist peacefully, stressing that anyone caught breaching the peace of the public would be made to face the wrath of the law.
