The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has appealed to the Federal Government and northern leaders to immediately bring an end to the ongoing ethno-religious violence in Sokoto and other parts of the north.

Wasiu Afolabi, OPC President, in a statement urged the immediate arrest and prosecution of Islamic leaders allegedly fuelling and mobilising rioters and making inflammatory statements after the killing of the female student, Deborah Samuel of the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto.

OPC said that Northerners cannot continue to take laws into their hands,as nobody has a monopoly of violence.The safety of the lives and businesses of southerners residing in the north need to be guaranteed.

We hold President Muhammadu Buhari and all the governors responsible for this provocative resort to violence by rioters. Northern leaders must immediately put a stop to this madness because it is capable of provoking reprisals from other parts of the country, Enough is enough.”

The group condemned the killing of Deborah Samuel, describing her murder as “unwarranted, barbaric and provocative”.

Wasiu Afolabi said that the group demands justice for Deborah, stressing that her life was so brazenly cut short in her prime and demands that her killers must be hunted down, brought to justice and made to face the maximum punishment that the law dictates.