Peter Anosike
Osolo of Isolo, the traditional ruler of Isolo community in Lagos State, Oba Kabiru Kolawole Alani Adelaja Agbabiaka, recently assured non-Yoruba residents in the area of safety.
The monarch gave the assurance at an inter-tribal peace meeting in his palace. The meeting, which had in attendance the leaders of Hausa, South-South, Igbo and Nupe residents, and was initiated by the chairman of Igbo Stakeholders United Forum, Lagos State, Prince Nixon Okwara, was in reaction to the threat to Igbos residing in South-West states to leave the area within 24 hours or have themselves to blame.
The threat was made by a United Kingdom-based Yoruba man, Oluwasegun Abiodun Bolarinwa, who claimed to be the president of Young Yoruba for Freedom (YYF). He is better known as Adeyinka Grandson.
At the meeting, Oba Agbabiaka said Yoruba and non-Yoruba residents have been living peacefully in Isololand and as such he did not want inflammatory statements that would bring disunity or disaffection among the different tribes in his kingdom. According to him, the so-called Adeyinka Grandson was not known to the Yoruba people and as such could not speak on their behalf.
He said, while he was against policemen brutalising innocent people, he was strongly against looting and vandalism of public and private property.
The Oba said that the cooperation and peaceful co-existence of all the ethnic groups living in Isolo was the main reason the mayhem that visited the other parts of Lagos during the #EndSARS protest did not get to Isolo.
The royal father said he was always consulting with the leaders of other ethnic groups on how to move Isolo forward.
In his contribution, chairman of Igbo Stakeholders United Forum, Lagos States, Prince Okwara, said the meeting was neither the first nor the second time that the Oba would be gathering the leaders of the different tribes in Isolo together to hold discussions on peaceful co-existence.
Prince Okwara said that anytime the leaders of different tribal groups called on the Oba on any issue, he always gave them attention.
He said that it was wrong to attribute the #EndSARS protest to any ethnic group, adding that the main cause of the protest was deprivation of the masses.
“Today, Isolo is like one of the highbrow areas in Lagos State. In fact, it is the fastest developing part of Lagos and this is as a result of the peace, unity and peaceful co-existence, which the Oba has put in place. It is the peaceful foundation that the Oba has laid that the non-Yoruba indigenes keyed into, and that is the reason why Isolo is progressing.
“On the #EndSARS protest, the defective constitution is what is causing the protest and not Hausa, Igbo, Nupe or Yoruba. Most Nigerians, including the police, are deprived. The international community identified Nigeria as one of the flashpoints of violence after the COVID-19 and the cause is the high rate of poverty,” Prince Okwara said
Also contributing, the leader of the Nupe community in Isolo, Alhaji Mohammed Issa Tapa, commended the Oba for his efforts at bringing peace to the kingdom.
He said he has lived in Isolo for more than 26 years and as such has witnessed the Oba`s detribalised nature. He appealed to all Nigerians to love one another and endeavour to live together in peace.
