10 injured in Ibadan religious clash
About 10 persons sustained various degrees of injury in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Sunday evening, as members of the Izala and Tijaniya/Adriya Islamic sects clashed in the Hausa community of Sabo, Mokola.
Mostly affected were members of the Izala sect.
While some were said to have been stoned, others reportedly sustained machete cuts.
It took the intervention of the police for normalcy to be restored to the troubled spot.
An Armoured Personnel Carrier was also hurriedly deployed in the area from the headquarters of the state police command.
While the crisis lasted, three mosques located in the area were vandalised while some vehicles parked close to them were also damaged.
Those injured in the fracas were either rushed to nearby hospitals or given first-aid by their colleagues.
The Sarkin Sabo, Alhaji Ahmed Zungeru, blamed the clash on the Izala sect’s leaders and a sermon by a preacher fromJos, Plateau State.
Zungeru said the preaching of the cleric negated Islamic doctrines.
He claimed that when he saw angry youths heading to the area occupied by members of the Izala sect, he stopped them and appealed for calm. But when he sensed that his pleas were about to be ignored, he approached the police at Iyaganku division for help.
But one of the Izala leaders, Alhaji Abubakar Saliu, described Zungeru’s allegations as unfounded.
He alleged that Zungeru and his chiefs led the invasion, as part of a ploy to drive the Izala sect out of the area.
Saliu said the attack on his group was a fallout of last Friday’s judgment of a magistrate court in Ibadan, which ruled that the two groups should stop using loudspeakers during their services.
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