Five
yet-to-be identified gunmen invaded the palace of Olubadan of
Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, Aje Ogungunniso I, at Popoyemoja,
Ibadan, yesterday morning, rained bullets on anything in sight and left
wounded people, including a former secretary to the state government and
journalists in their wake.
The attack might not be unconnected with
controversies trailing the state government’s recent review of the 1959
Olubadan of Ibadanland Chieftaincy Declaration, which has now given the
city 33 new kings.
The new kings are still subject to the Olubadan’s authority.
Witnesses said the gunmen came in a white Sienna Toyota space bus, with open roof and rained bullets on Olubadan’s palace.
No one died during the rampage. The
staccato of gunfire did not, however, stop Olubadan’s installation of
two new baales, yesterday.
The remaining two did not show up for the ceremony, it was gathered.
One
of the gunmen was said to have released volleys of gunshots into the
the air, via the open roof of the vehicle, while others reportedly shot
through windows of the vehicle.
Those who saw the gunmen said they wore
black clothes and tied red cloths around their heads and used pump
action rifles and A-K47 rifles. Within five minutes of the incident, men
of the joint security task force in the state, Operation Burst, arrived
the palace and restored normalcy.
A chief in the Olubadan chieftaincy line
and SSG, Alhaji Sharafadeen Alli, who is the current Asaaju Balogun of
Ibadanland, escaped death by the whiskers as he came face-to-face with
death. Alli, who had just arrived the palace, for the ceremony, was in
his black Toyota Land Cruiser sports utility vehicle, with registration
number LAGOS EPE 447 ER, and the vehicle was less than 15 metres away to
the gate of the palace when the gunmen released volleys of gunshots
which pierced the vehicle’s owner’s corner.
Asiwaju Babatunde Yusuff and Adedokun
Ayobami, who were with Alli in the vehicle, at the time of the attack,
said the vehicle was already less than 15 metres to the gate of the
palace.
According to Yusuff, Alli escaped death
because he did not sit at the owner’s corner, saying he chose to sit
beside the driver at the front.
Already in the palace before the sporadic
gunshots were the Osi Olubadan and former governor of Oyo State,
Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Baamofin of Ibadanland, Senator Olufemi
Lanlehin.
Ladoja and Lanlehin are vehemently against the recent review. They described the action as illegal.
The three journalists who had close shave
with death were Olufemi Atoyebi of The Punch, Ademola Babalola of
Thisday and Jeremiah Oke of Daily Trust.
They were approaching the entrance of the palace when the gunmen started shooting sporadically in front of the palace.
The duo said they quickly took refuge in
an open drainage in front of the palace, to escape being hit by bullets.
By the time the gunfire was over, they were already drenched in dirty
water in the drainage. People around the palace ran helter-skelter and
traders on both sides of the Popoyemoja Street hurriedly closed shops
and those who have houses by the roadside also locked their doors for
safety.
One of the elder sisters to Alhaja Mutiat
Ladoja, Alhaja Iyabo Adeyemi, also witnessed the incident, said the
gunmen broke the glasses of her black Honda Accord (Baby Boy) with
registration number LAGOS GGE 690 CU. She
told Daily Sun that the gunmen mistook her for Mutiat, because of their
resemblance. But, she was not in the car when the vehicle was shot at,
in front of the mosque which was beside the palace.
When contacted, Olubadan’s Director of Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Adeola Oloko, simply said: “The police will do their job.”
Thereafter, Ladoja described the gunmen
as ‘hoodlums’ and that they could “have been engineered by some people. I
don’t understand why people refuse to follow the normal procedure. If
you think something is wrong, go to court…There is nobody that has
exclusivity of violence. But, we normally prefer to do our things in the
legal way. The courts are there. They should try to go to the court, if
they feel that what Olubadan is doing is illegal.
Meanwhile, Governor Abiola Ajimobi has
given marching orders to security agencies to fish out the gunmen who
invaded Oba Adetunji’s palace .
The governor, who spoke through his
Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Mr. Yomi Layinka, condemned the
action and vowed not to allow a group of people unleash terror in the
state.
In his reaction, Balogun of Ibadanland,
Oba Owolabi Olakulehin, in a telephone interview with Daily Sun,
described the shooting aas uncalled for and unprecedented.
He said the incident was regrettable
because if Olubadan had been outside, he might have been shot, saying:
“We need to tell it to the whole world that this has never happened in
Ibadan before. It is uncalled for.
Regardless, Daily Sun observed that among
the nine living members of the Olubadan-in-Council, only Osi Olubadan,
Senator Rashidi Ladoja, was present at the palace for the
installation of the new baales.
Olakulehin, who responded to the absence
of eight other members, told Daily Sun that they were not invited by the
Olubadan for the programme.
He said his investigation revealed that
only Ladoja and Iyalode of Ibadanland, Alhaja Aminat Abiodun, were
invited for the ceremony, adding that the installation of the new baales
was invalid because the council did not approve of it.
Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude,
confirmed the incident in a telephone interview described it as
regrettable and added that investigation has been launched into the
incident. But he did not comment on whether arrests have been made or
not.
The four baales that were supposed to be
installed yesterday are Sayeed Aderemi Alatise, Baale of Lagelu Aboke
village in Lagelu Local Government Area; Tajudeen Oladejo Babaode, Baale
of Babaode village in Ido Local Government Area; Pa Ezekiel Akinboade
Ojedeji, Baale of Ojedeji Ojo Aro Town in Akinyele Local Government
Area; as well as Taye Makinde Aikomo, Baale of Adigun village in Ona Ara
Local Government Area.
But, only Baale of Lagelu Aboke village
and Baale of Adigun village were eventually installed as two others were
absent, probably based on the short notice from the palace to the
invitees.
Apart from Oba Olakulehin, the seven
other living members who were not at the ceremony are Oba Lekan Balogun,
the Otun Olubadan; Oba Tajudeen Ajibola, the Osi Balogun of Ibadanland;
Oba Eddy Oyewole, Asipa Olubadan of Ibadanland; Oba Latifu Gbadamosi
Adebimpe, Ashipa Balogun of Ibadanland; Oba Abiodun Kola-Daisi, Ekerin
Olubadan of Ibadanland; Oba Amidu Ajibade, the Ekarun Olubadan of
Ibadanland and Oba Kolawole Adegbola, Ekarun Balogun of Ibadanland.
On his part, the former SSG, Alli, condemned the act, adding that the hoodlums took their luck too far.
Femi Atoyebi of the Punch said: “I give
thanks to my creator, who saved me and my colleagues. We were so close
to it, face to face with them.
Also, Ademola Babalola commented: “Black
Monday in Ibadan. Another great escape by the whisker! Gunmen at palace.
It can only be God. Saw death LIVE!!! This life. Job hazard. My God,
thank you forever.
He vowed that the police would get to the
root of the matter and the culprits would be brought to justice,
saying: “I got a report from my men who were around in the area. The
report was lodged at Mapo Police Station, and the report had it that
some men in a Toyota Sienna bus passing by shot into the air but that
there was no injury or death.”
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