Hundreds of Hausas were reportedly leaving in batches, through commercial buses and cars.
While some of them took Ilesa route, others followed Akure route where they could get direct vehicles to the North.
The
Sun newspaper reports that the Hausa people claimed that it was only
their people that lost their lives, following attacks by hoodlums whom
they said, used dangerous weapons, including guns, cutlasses and cudgels
among others.
Report shows that the Hausas started
fleeing Ile-Ife on Wednesday when the clash got terrible and they were
still fleeing in batches as at Friday evening.
One
of the Hausa leaders, the Afobaje of the Hausa communities in Ile-Ife,
Alhaji Malami Nasidi, told Saturday Sun that his people needed to leave
the community immediately to escape any further attack.
According
to him, they don’t have anywhere to sleep, adding that he and his
family and other victims had been sleeping outside and could not
guarantee their security.
He said: “We need to go for now
because our people are calling us to come back home and we don’t have
any option than to leave now until peace is completely restored."
Another
survivor, Mustapha Hassan, from Zaria said the victims did not have any
option than to go back to the North since their houses had been
destroyed, leaving them homeless.
Hassan said: “We don’t have anywhere
to stay. We don’t have anywhere to sleep. They have destroyed
everything that we have. Most of us had shops and stores where we used
to sell carpets, provisions, phones and other things. Other people used
to sell food stuff like beans, rice, yams, pepper, onions. But
everything was destroyed. We don’t have anything to survive in Ife any
more. That is why we have to go back to our homes in the north."
Another survival, Mustapha Nadabo said: “Since
three days ago when the fight started and they killed a lot of our
people, the cloth I am wearing now is the only thing I have now. I lost
everything. I don’t have any option than to go back to the north where I
came from."
Another Hausa leader,
Alhaji Buhari Halum, also lamented the attack, saying that the Hausa
people in Ife had lived in peace and unity with the Yoruba over the
years and wondered why the latter would take arms against them without
recourse to the age-long relationship.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the fight left the town desolated as banks, public and private schools as well as government offices were under
lock and key.
Majority
of the civil servants who went to work were sent back home by security
personnel as most of the roads leading to their offices were blocked.
