Following the December 19, 2015, renewed communal clash between Share, a Yoruba speaking community in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State and its neighouring town, Tsaragi, which belongs to the Nupe People of Edu Local Government Area of the state.

"Upon my assumption to office, I swore to protect the lives and property of all residents of Kwara State and ensure the safety of all people, places and businesses in the State. To this end, I have imple­mented policies to guarantee a secured environment for the people of Kwara State. Howev­er, on occasion, disputes may occur between neighbouring communities, the most recent of which is the crisis between Share and Tsaragi communi­ties.

The above were words of the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed, while inaugurating a seven-man Ju­dicial Commission of Enquiry on Share /Tsaragi communal clash recently and mandated the commission, which is chaired by Justice Suleiman Akanbi, to find out the remote cause of the crisis and proffer solution to it.

But the governor's assertion was countered by the leaders of Tsaragi who engaged Gov­ernor Ahmed in a verbal war over his alleged complicity in the crisis and accused him of bias being an indigene of Share. The Tsaragi elders who re­acted barely 24 hours after at­tending a peace meeting con­vened by the governor at state Government House, totally rejected the commission and called for the setting up of a Reconciliatory Commission.

The two communities are next door neigbours. They actually inter-marry. Yet, they have been engaged in com­munal clashes since 1978. Five times in the last 36 years there have been actual combats. Since violence broke out be­tween the two communities in 1978, no fewer than four commissions of Enquiry had been set up. The the recent re­newed attack which reportedly claimed four lives, has further worsened the crisis.

While the state govern­ment said it is poised to solve the crisis once and for all, the communities seem not ready for truce as they both engage in accusations and counter ac­cusations. For the Share community, it was it was the Tsaragi com­munity that was guilty, while the later accused the governor prejudice.

The Share Descendants Union (SDU) in a statement appealed to President Mu­hammadu Buhari to quickly intervene to avoid the alleged massive killings of innocent people of the community and destruction of property worth several millions of naira by the irate youths of Nupe speaking tribe of Tsaragi in the state. The community argued that there was the need for Presi­dent Buhari to set up a com­mission of enquiry in order to bring the perpetrators of the massive killings to book.

The statement, which was signed by the union’s Na­tional Secretary, Mr. Sunday Ajayi, said: "The murderous acts have led to the massive destruction of lives and prop­erty as the Nigeria Police Force presence could not stop the act because of the weapons alleg­edly wielded by the youths of Tsaragi until the state govern­ment imposed curfew and de­ployed soldiers to the areas."

The statement further said: "As at the time of reporting this, large compounds namely Agodo, Ana, Sango, Sunjami, Oluawo, Olujide among others were razed completely by the irate youths of Tsaragi com­munity. Also, UMCA, Jerusa­lem church, mission houses, UMCA primary and second­ary schools, Old Native Au­thority School, Community High School among others were not spared in the attack."

But, the elders of Tsaragi community in their swift reac­tion, rejected the constitution of another Commission of In­quiry by the state government to probe the crisis, called for the implementation of deci­sions of previous commissions on the same age-long conflict or set up an entirely new rec­onciliation commission to push for unity among the two neighbours. The community at a press conference addressed by the Wali of Tsaragi, Dr. Muham­mad Haruna, in Ilorin last week, said they could not trust Governor Ahmed, being an indigene of Share, to be fair and just in the affairs of a new commission of inquiry and have decided to contest his actions on the latest dispute legally.

Haruna said: "Following the recent outbreak of communal crisis between Tsaragi and Share, the attention of Tsaragi community was drawn to yet another constitution of a judi­cial commission of Inquiry to investigate the issues that led to the crisis and proffer solu­tions. It is important to recap that the Federal Government of Nigeria, following the states and local governments cre­ation of 1976, constituted Jus­tice Mamman Nasir's Bound­ary Adjustment Commission. "It visited the two commu­nities and its recommenda­tions were accepted by the federal government. A white paper was issued on the report by the Kwara State Govern­ment. In 1995/96, the federal government again set up Jus­tice Mbanefo panel. It visited Kwara State and at its public sitting, Share community re­quested it to review the Mam­man Nasir Commission's rec­ommendations."

The group, however, alleged that "There have been four commissions on Share/Tsaragi Boundary Dispute since 1975 and all of which were rejected. Having failed to achieve their mission through lawful means, Share community resorted to the use of force, sometimes, by invading Nupe villages with armed youths and ordering the villagers to leave or admit being part of Share District in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.

"In the light of the one-sided disposition openly dis­played by Governor Ahmed, the Nupes of Tsaragi commu­nity have no reason whatso­ever to participate in another inquiry more so when the rec­ommendations of all the pre­vious commissions/panels on the crisis which have been ad­opted by the government have not been implemented.

"Clearly, everything points to Governor Ahmed as the stumbling block towards the resolution of the crisis. We observed at meetings attended by Tsaragi community at the Government House that the governor asked questions and provided the answers at the same time, while addressing salient issues.

"We have also observed that he asserted that no communi­ty owns lands and threatened land owners to adopt give and take approach. This cannot be the stance of a neutral gover­nor and chief security officer of the state." The embattled governor, while reacting to the allega­tion, described it as shocking, unfair and inappropriate rep­resentation of what transpired during the peace meeting he had with the people of the community.

The governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Abdul Wahab Oba, said: "For the avoidance of doubt, Gov. Ahmed swore to an oath of of­fice as the governor of the state to be impartial to all, irrespec­tive of ethnic, religious beliefs and other persuasions he can, therefore, not take sides on the matter at hand. The fact that he is from Share by birth cannot in any way influence his decision on matters of the state, especially security relat­ed matters."

While the controversies over the constitution of the new Ju­dicial Commission of Inquiry are still on, members of the panel had swung into action with a call for submission of memorandum by the inter­ested parties.

Will the commission solve the crisis and proffer solution or will its outcome be widely accepted? That is the question being asked by the pundits.