Hundreds of Hausa/Fulani youths on Tuesday stormed the palace of the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji, expressing concern over the ethnic dimension the farmers-herders crisis has taken.
The youths told the monarch that they were born and raised in Ibadan, emphasising that the city is their home and that they have nowhere else to go.
Oba Adetunji disclosed this on Wednesday while speaking with the team of a newspaper printed in Yoruba, Gbelegbo, who went to officially present the newspaper to him at his palace.
The monarch recalled that the youths, numbering about 200, said any time they travel to their states of origin in the north, their relations always ask them when they plan to return to Ibadan which they call their home.
Oba Adetunji revealed this while explaining that Ibadan is home to virtually all tribes in Nigeria, adding that the city has witnessed tremendous development in his five-year tenure. The monarch will be five years on the throne on Thursday.
He said the youths of northern extraction insisted that Ibadan is their home, and that all they seek is the peace and prosperity of the city. They urged the monarch to appeal to those promoting ethnic crisis to desist because they are all Ibadan indigenes.
The recent crisis at Sasa market in Ibadan almost degenerated into ethnic clash because a large population of market men and women are of northern extraction. Sasa market is the final destination for several foodstuff dealers from the north.
The Olubadan decried ethnic profiling to crimes, saying Ibadan is home to all and sundry as long as they shun criminality.
