Thousands of Yoruba traders in the Ibaruba community of Kwara State have appealed to President Bola Tinubu, the Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, as well as, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to save them from being forcefully evicted and expelled from their abodes by the Ibaruba traditional rulers who have banned them from carrying on their legitimate business there.

The Ibaruba community was originally a non-Yoruba-speaking settlement but with thousands of Yoruba residents carrying on business and engaging in inter-marital activities with the settlers for decades.

However, the relationship went sour late last year when one of the Yoruba Baales (Community Head), Nafiu, insulted some of the settlers through hate speech and derogatory statements, and he was banished from the community.

Some representatives of the Yoruba residents in the community, including Ibraheem Akanji Rabiu Chairman, Igbimo Agba Yoruba in Ibaruba Community, and Okegbenro Johnson, Secretary, spoke with New Telegraph in Ibadan, Oyo State capital and said: “because of the sin of Nafiu, (Oba Yoruba in the Okuta District of Baruten Local Government of Ibaruba Community of Kwara State have since November, last year banned us from carrying on our legitimate trading in foodstuffs.

“They have been subjecting us to forceful confiscation of our goods. The. District Heads in the Baruten communities including Yasikira, Okuta, Boriya, Gure, and Siya have threatened us that they are going to expel us.

“Other Yoruba Obas in Baruten, Siya, have been expelled. They have said that we should no longer be having our traditional meetings again. We are hereby begging that Nafiu be forgiven so that we can continue to co-exist in peace as before.

“We are hereby using this medium to appeal to President Bola Tinubu, our Governor, AbdulRasak, the Inspector General of Police to investigate these claims of ours and douse the tension already created, lest there be a breakdown of law and order. We don’t know if the governor is in the know of the activities of the Baruten Ibaruba traditional rulers”.

In the petition letters written to the Kwara State House of Assembly, the Kwara State Security Service (DSS), and Governor AbdulRasak, on their behalf by their lawyer, Adeola Fehintola, copies of which were made available to New Telegraph, the complainants called for swift and urgent investigation of “the security breaches that contravene the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and International Human rights of the Yorubas who are being discriminated against by the Traditional Rulers in Baruten Local Government.

In the letter to the governor dated January 2, 2024, the lawyer said: “We call on His Excellency, Governor AbdulRaman Abdul-Rasaq to know whether Kwara State Government endorses the actions of all the Traditional Rulers in Baruten Local Government to ban and expel Yorubas traders from their Communities. Our belief is that this Honourable House of Assembly shall carry out a probe urgently to prevent a breakdown of security in these communities”, the lawyer said. (Sunday Telegraph)

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