Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has advised the panel of inquiry into the Ile-Ife crisis of March 8, 2017 to be neutral in its investigation into the clash.
The panel is headed by Justice Moshood Adeigbe.
The Ooni gave this advice on Thursday when the panel paid him a courtesy visit before moving to Sabo area, the scene of the clash, to begin an inquest into the crisis which claimed many lives and destroyed many properties.
The Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, had last week raised the panel and charged them to unravel the root cause of the crisis with a view to fashioning out ways to prevent a reoccurrence.
The monarch, who appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience, said there should be no fight between people of different tribes or religions living inside the same country because they were one.
He said that he met with the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, and the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido, and other leaders across the country over the peaceful coexistence of all Nigerians, saying they assured him of their cooperation.
Ogunwusi said, “So far, so good. We have not seen any reprisal attack anywhere. We are one Nigeria, irrespective of where we choose to live and I pray we will not witness this kind of a tragic event again.
“Please, be neutral in order to get to the bottom of what triggered this unfortunate incident. The crisis happened at the source of the Yoruba race but we thank God for his prompt intervention.”
The chairman of the panel had earlier told the Ooni that the panel was ready to get to the root of the crisis.
He said that to make the panel accessible to the victims and other members of the public, who had useful information, the members would hold their sittings in Ile-Ife.
The panel later moved to the scene of the clash and interviewed some of the victims, who narrated their ordeal and how the clash started on March 7 before it snowballed into a full-blown crisis the following morning.
Some of them, who spoke with our correspondent, said the tragic clash could have been prevented if security agents did not leave the scene of the clash in the early morning of March 8.
Meanwhile, a former Inspector-General of Police and Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie, on Wednesday, disclosed that the forum would soon organise a national summit on security and economy to promote peaceful coexistence in the country.
He made the disclosure in Katsina shortly after the Students’ Representative Council of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, presented him with an award.
